


Across the Spiderverse

by JoMo3



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2019-10-02 16:09:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17267222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMo3/pseuds/JoMo3
Summary: It's two weeks after the events of Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and Miles has been busy webbing, studying, and thinking about a certain someone. When Gwen finds a way to get to his universe, the two get a chance to reconnect.





	1. Hello From Earth-65

**Author's Note:**

> So I just watched the movie and felt the urge to write about these two. This is my first time writing something other than my usual fandom, so please be patient with me.  
> To my Stranger Things peeps, if you're reading this, *no* I haven't quit writing about Mike and El; more to come soon.

_Alright, let’s do this one more time..._

_My name is Miles Morales, and for the past two weeks I’ve been the one and only Spider-Man. I saved the city from being sucked into different dimensions, stopped the Kingpin, met other spider-people, and got my first A at Visions Academy. Not too bad for a kid from Brooklyn._

_The only thing is, since all of that happened, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about one of the other spider-people I met; Gwen. Like the others, she went back to her own universe right before I fought Kingpin. To be honest, I’m not the most adept when it comes to talking to girls. But somehow, me and Gwen were able to hit it off._

_If my Uncle Aaron were here, he’d make fun of me for not having enough game to talk to her. But then again she isn’t here, she’s in her own universe. How am I even supposed to talk to her if I can’t see her?_

**.    .   .**

Miles glanced at his watch, seeing the time; almost time for class. He jumped from his bed, grabbing his backpack in the process. He’s just out the door when there’s a flash of light, followed by a barely audible voice, calling for him:

_Miles?_

But he’s already gone.

 

It’s another typical day at Visions Academy. Since the whole universe thing, Miles has felt more confident about himself, thus liking school more. When the school day is over, he makes his way back to his dorm room where his roommate, Ganke Lee, is typing up a paper.

Immediately, Ganke yanks off the headphones he’s wearing and turns to Miles with a wide grin. “Are you going out?”

“Going out?” Miles asks, dropping his bag onto his bed.

“Yeah, you know... _thwip thwip_ ,” he says, mimicking shooting webs.

Miles groans as he sits on his bunk. “Dude, I told you, you’ve gotta be cool with that.”

“I’m cool,” Ganke responds, pushing his glasses up his nose. “So? Are you?”

“Am I what?”

“Going out _there_.”

“I don’t know, probably,” Miles shrugs. “Right now I’ve gotta worry about homework.”

So for the next hour Ganke works on his paper; Miles opts for his calculus homework, while he sings along quietly to the music he listens to in his headphones.

Miles is so focused in his work he’s startled when a finger pokes him. He takes off his headphones and looks at his roommate. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m going to go eat. Wanna come?”

“In a little bit,” Miles responds, shifting on the bed. “I’m almost done with this.”

Ganke nods, and makes his way out of the dorm, with the door closing behind him. Miles puts his headphones on, and turns to his back as he mumbles along to the song he’s listening to:

“...left in the dust...unless I stuck by ya...you’re a…”

Miles is so engrossed by music and caught up with his homework, that he doesn’t notice the sudden flash above his head. His music is loud enough that he doesn’t hear the familiar voice that follows it: “Miles, you got a minute?”

Instead Miles continues to bob his head, finally finishing the problem he’d been working on for five minutes before putting his head down and closing his eyes, waiting until the song to finish.

The voice, belonging to Gwen, of course, sighs before she steps through the portal she’d opened, landing on the floor just out of Mile’s vision. The portal closes behind her. She waves her hands as if to say _what the hell, Miles?_ But when he still doesn’t notice, she webs his arm and yanks it.

“Hey!” he says, turning. “Gwen! What’re you…. _oomph!_ ” He falls off the bed, face planting on the floor. Gwen starts to laugh.

“You know you _could_ help me up,” he groans as he sits up.

“And miss this? No way,” she says, sitting in Ganke’s chair.

“Ow,” he says, rubbing his head. “What’d you web me for?”

“I was trying to get your attention, and you weren’t looking, so…” she angled her hand, and with a _thwip_ , webbed his headphones, pulling them to her. “Jeez, this thing is loud. You’re gonna go deaf.”

“You sound like my mom,” Miles responds, snatching the headphones from her. Turning them off, it suddenly hits him that Gwen, the girl he’s been thinking about for the past two weeks, is _here_ , in his dimension, in his _dorm_. “How did you get here?” he finally asks.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” she answers, taking a small remote out of her jeans pocket. “I was able to make this little thing. I can, like, _go_ places now. Other universes.”

“Huh. A goober.”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, a goober.”

“That’s cool.” Miles finally stands, as does Gwen, as she hands him the remote to look at. Turning it in his hand, he asks “Have you gone to any other universes with this?”

“No, not yet, I…” she stops, and he notices her cheeks pinken slightly as she looks at her feet. “I wanted to, uh, see you first. Friends, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah” he says, handing her back the remote. “I wanted to see you, too. I mean...if I had one of those...things I would...I...uh…”

Gwen smiles as she finally looks up, laughing at his awkwardness.

He looks back at her, wondering what to say, when he says the first thing that pops in his head. “Your hair is the same.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“I thought it would’ve, you know...grown back by now.”

“It did. But turns out, I kind of like it like this,” she says, running a hand through the hair on the right side of her face.

“That’s cool. Do I get a thank you or anything…”

“For ripping my hair out? Uh, _no_.”

“I was getting used to my powers! And puberty!”

“Okay, I _still_ don’t think you know what puberty is, so…”

He chuckled. “Hey, uh...you hungry? Because I was about to go get dinner in the cafeteria.”

“I could eat,” she responds.

“Cool. Do they still think you’re Gawanda here, or…”

Gwen shakes her head, smiling. “Shut up, Miles.”


	2. Is She Your Girlfriend?

The two entered the cafeteria and, after filling their trays with pizza slices, sodas, and fries, found an empty space at the end of a table. Miles noticed Gwen looking worried.

“What is it?” he finally asked.

“Nothing,” she responded, shaking her head. “I’m just nervous about, you know...somebody remembering me or something.”

“You were only here for a day, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, and got my hair  _ ripped out _ in front of half the school.”

Miles shook his head. “I bet they don’t even remember you.”

“Hey, Gwanda,” a student passing by said.

Gwen rolled her eyes.

“Okay,  _ he _ remembers you, but I bet he’s the only one.”

Two other students walked by, and it was obvious they were whispering about either Gwen or Miles.

Grinning, Miles asked, So what should  _ I _ call you? Gwanda? Gwen? Gwendolyne? Sp…”

“Gwen, please,” she said, interrupting him. “Just Gwen.”

Miles nodded, and the two began to eat. Miles once again racked his brain, begging it to give him something cool to say to her. Again, without thinking, he asked “So, uh...do you guys have pizza in your universe?”

She looked at him skeptically. “Of course we have pizza. Better than this, anyway.” She held up one of her two slices, looking it over. “Yeah, I miss The Crust back home.”

“The crust?”

“It’s a pizza place my band goes to sometimes after we do a gig.”

Band? Gig? “Wait..you’re in a band?”

“Yeah,” she said, as if it was a known fact. “The Mary Janes. I never told you?”

“No, you never told me. That’s...that’s cool.”

“Thanks,” she said, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Are you a singer?”

“No, that’s Em Jay, all the way. I’m just a drummer.”

“Is it just the two of you?”

“No, my friends Betty and Glory are in it, too.”

“That’s...that’s cool,” he said, repeating his earlier statement.

“Yeah, well...you gotta do something to destress,” she said. “What do you do?”

“Huh? I, uh...nothing.”

“Yeah, I believe you,” she said sarcastically.

He sighed. “I...draw, I guess you could call it. Tagging.”

“You mean graffiti?”

“It’s not graffiti, graffiti is...it’s  _ tagging _ .”

“Tagging,” she said softly. Looking up, she asked “You want to show me, then?”

 

So after finishing their meal, the two changed into their Spider-suits; Gwen’s was under her clothes, while Miles changed into his. Once ready, the two webbed out of Miles’ dorm room window. With Miles leading the way, the two webbed downtown before Miles stopped on a rooftop near a subway station.

“Why’re we stopping?” Gwen asked.

“It’s in there,” he answered, taking off his mask and pointing towards the subway entrance.

So a quick change of clothes later, and the two were walking down the steps into the subway.

“Does it always smell like this?” she asked, covering her nose.

Miles shrugged. “Smells like home.”

“Yeah, if your home is a public bathroom,” she muttered.

After waiting for a train to pass, Miles jumped into the tunnel, with Gwen right behind him. They walked a ways until coming to a fence. After they jumped over it, a few steps later they arrived at a familiar piece of street art.

“Cool,” Gwen said, looking in awe at the artwork. Walking up to it, she ran her hand over it. “You did this?”

“Yeah. Well, I had a little help from my...from my Uncle.”

She looked over her shoulder at him. “The one who...the Prowler?”

“Yeah. Him.”

She nodded. “Sorry about that, by the way.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. It is what it is.” Remembering something, he added “And this is where the spider bit me. What about you, how’d you get your powers?”

“A spider bit me, too,” she said, turning around.

“Okay, there are way too many spiders in way too many universes biting people out there.”

“Yeah, you’d think someone would’ve stomped them all out by now,” she said, chuckling.

Miles laughed, too; trying not to get distracted by how cute Gwen looked when she smiled (which was rare).

“Well, maybe it’s a good thing they’re out there,” Miles said. “Otherwise there wouldn’t be all of these Spider-Men, going around, helping people.”

“And Spider- _ Women _ ,” she said. “Do you even qualify as a Spider-Man, though? You’re still, what, twelve? Shouldn’t you be Spider-Boy, maybe Spider-Teen?”

“Spider-Boy? Then wouldn’t that make you Spider-Girl, since you’re barely older than me?”

“It’s Spider- _ Woman _ . And besides, I’ve got fifteen months than you.”

He smirked, and she grinned. “Well,” Miles said, “If I call you Spider-Woman, can you call me Spider-Man?”

She pretended to think about it. “I  _ guess _ …” In the background, they heard a subway train pass. “What time is it?”

“Uh...sometime after nine, I think,” Miles answered.

“Ugh. I’ve got to go,” she said, reaching into her pocket.

“Cool,” Miles said. “Um...maybe sometime I can come to your universe?”

“Yeah, that’d…” she paused, and started patting her pockets. “It’s not here!”

“What?”

“The goober. It’s…” she sighed. “I think I left it in your dorm room.”

 

So they webbed back to Visions Academy, but were surprised when they got there to see the room was empty. Not only empty of Ganke, but empty of the needed device.

“Did you take it with you to the cafeteria?” Miles asked after they’d searched the small room.

“No,” Gwen answered, shaking her head. “I remember putting it right here,” she said, indicating Ganke’s desk.

“Uh-oh. I hope he doesn’t have it.” Miles took out his phone and sent a text, asking his roommate if he’d found something on his desk. A second later, they heard a ringtone come from under Ganke’s pillow. Miles pulled up the pillow, and rolled his eyes when he saw Ganke had left his phone behind.

Gwen sighed, and sat next to Miles. “This is hopeless,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “How am I supposed to get back?”

“We’ll figure something out,” Miles said.

She huffed, then seemed to notice something on the floor. “Hey. Is that...us?”

Miles looked down. One of his notebooks had fell on the floor as they’d ransacked the room, and the two were currently staring at one of Mike’s drawings. In it was a mural of he, Gwen, Spider-Man, Noir, Ham, and Peni.

“Yeah, uh…” he picked it up. “It’s just a rough draft, though.”

“That’s cool,” she said, moving closer to look at it. “Except for Peter.”

Miles looked down, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“You didn’t give him a gut,” she said, pointing.

Miles chuckled, as did Gwen. As he looked up, he suddenly realized how close they were sitting.

“But you did a good job with me,” she said, her eyes meeting his.

“Well...it wasn’t that hard,” he responded softly, thinking to himself  _ Am I flirting with her? _

She smiled, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink again.

_ Okay, _ Miles thought,  _ I am definitely flirting with her _ . He realized, again, that they were sitting  _ very  _ close to one another. “Um...if we can’t find the, uh...the…”

“Goober,” she finished for him.

“You’re welcome to stay…”

The door suddenly opened, and Miles and Gwen jumped apart, with Gwen bumping her head on the mattress above her.

“Oh!” Ganke said, seeing the two sitting on his bed. “I didn’t, uh...know that…”

“Close the door,” Miles told him, as he regained his composure. After Ganke did so, Miles stood up, asking “Did you see a little remote thingy on your desk?”

“No…” He looked around Miles. “Who is…”

“That’s Gwen,” Miles said. “Long story.” Behind him, Gwen stood, rubbing her head. “You didn’t see a remote when you were in here before?”

“No, I haven’t been back since before dinner. Are you...wait, is that it?”

He pointed at a small black object between his desk and the wall.

“How did we not see that?” Gwen asked, going to pick it up. “Stupid thing.” Looking up at Miles, she said “See you around, Spider-Boy.” She pressed a button, and a circle of light appeared near the window. With one more wave and smile, she walked through, closing it behind her.

“Who...what...what was that?” Ganke asked Miles.

“ _ That _ ,” Miles said, jumping onto his bed, “Was Gwen.”

“Gwen? Is she…”

So Miles spent the next five minutes telling his friend about Gwen Stacy from Earth-65. When he’d finished, Ganke seemed speechless.

“Wow,” he finally said. “So she’s Spider-Woman.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Is she….is she your girlfriend?”

“What? No! We’re just...we’re friends.”

“Huh. Cool.”

The two boys got into their respective beds, exhausted from the day. Miles kept smiling, hoping he’d get to see Gwen again, but also replaying Ganke’s question in his mind.

_ Is she your girlfriend? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added more chapters because more ideas came to me. Thanks for reading.


	3. I’m Coming Home Now/Right Where I Belong Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title's from a lyric in "Home," a song on the Spider-Verse soundtrack.

It was a Friday evening, and Miles was happy for the end of another school week. Not that he didn’t like it at Visions Academy; quite the opposite. Since the whole multiverse thing he’d been doing better, befriending his roommate and enjoying his time there. But it being Friday, he got to go home for the weekend, and he’d  _ really _ been missing his mom’s home cooking.

He’d also been missing Gwen. She’d found a way to text him from her universe, but he hadn’t actually  _ seen _ her since she’d visited his dorm room a little more than a week ago. He wished that there was a way for  _ him _ to go and see  _ her _ , but he was no closer to making his own universe-traveling-gizmo than he was to becoming a super-villain. So, for the time being, he took solace in reading her texts, happy to know she was thinking of him.

As he took the subway home, Ganke’s question repeated in his mind:  _ Is she your girlfriend? _

No, Gwen wasn’t his girlfriend. But that’s not to say he hadn’t thought about it. He liked her, that was definite. But he didn’t think she liked him, at least in the way he liked her. Still, that didn’t stop him from thinking about her blue eyes, or the cute gap between her front teeth, and how pretty her smile was. He wondered, though; could she like him?

His stop arrived, and he climbed off the subway and went up the stairs, happy to be home for the next two days. He planned on spending his two days of freedom listening to music, drawing, sleeping, and web-slinging (not necessarily in that order). He was feeling good as he arrived at his home.

“Mi amor!” his mom, Rio Morales, greeted him as he entered the apartment. 

“Hi, mom,” he said, hugging her back as she peppered his forehead with kisses.

“Rio, let him get through the door,” his dad, Jefferson Davis, said as he came from the kitchen. Clapping Miles on the back, he asked “How are you, Miles?”

“I’m good, dad,” Miles managed to say as his mom finally let him go. “Hungry.”

“I just got off work,” his mother said. “Dinner will be in an hour.”

“Okay,” Miles said. “I’ll be in my room.”

He entered his bedroom, closing the door behind him as he plopped down onto his bed. He suddenly realized how tired he was. Well, mom did say dinner would be in an hour. Maybe a little nap?

_ Within minutes, he was dreaming that he was swinging through the city, searching for someone. A turn here and a jump there, and he found it-Dr. Olivia Octavius, with one of her tentacles wrapped around Gwen. _

_ “Let her go!” Miles demanded. _

_ “Not a chance,” Octavius said. _

_ Using his quick reflexes, Miles webbed Olivia in the face; as her grip loosened on Gwen, Miles spun a webline out and snagged her, reeling her into his arms. “Got you, Gwen,” he said. _

_ “My hero,” Gwen said, her blue eyes looking into his with adoration. She lifted up the bottom of his mask, and began to lean in for a kiss. Before she did, though, she paused, saying “Miles?” _

_ “Yeah, Gwen?” _

_ “Miles?” _

_ He was confused. “Yeah?” _

“Miles!”

He woke up with a start, and heard a yelp as the person who’d waken him fell off his bed and onto the floor.

“Jeez, what’s your problem?” the voice, one he’d just heard in his dream, asked.

“Gwen? Is that you?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said from the floor. He inched towards the end of the bed, and saw her getting up.

“How did you get here?” He helped her up.

“I went to your dorm, but you weren’t there. Your roommate said you came home.”

“Yeah, it’s….it’s the weekend. What’re you doing here?”

She wiped off her pants. “I wanted to see you.”

“Oh. Uh...okay, I guess.” He then noticed the open window. “You couldn’t have come to the front door? My parents are in the…”

There was a knock at the door as both Miles and Gwen felt a warning go off in their heads.

“Um…” Gwen said softly.

“Miles? Mijo, are you okay?” Miles recognized his mother’s voice from the other side of his closed door.

“Yeah! I’m fine!” he said back.

“I heard something fall. Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I just…uh…fell in my chair.” Looking at Gwen, he whispered “Hide, hide!”

“Where am I supposed to…” she began.

“Miles? Who’re you talking to?” His father’s voice this time.

“No one! It’s, uh...the TV.” He immediately regretted that; he didn’t even  _ have _ a TV in his room. “I mean my phone! Um, my phone! I’m, uh...watching a video.” He started to tell Gwen to hop out the window when his door began to open. He stopped it, leaving it open a crack as his dad looked at him with a curious look.

“What’s going on in here?”

“Nothing. I’m, uh...studying.”

“I thought you were watching a video.”

“I am. On...studying.”

His dad pushed on the door, and looked surprised at his inability to open it further. “You been working out, Miles?”

“What? No...I  mean yeah! I…”

His dad pushed again, and Miles stumbled back as his dad came into the room, his mom right behind him.

They both stopped when they saw the girl who was in their son’s room, one foot out the window.

“Uhhhh…” Gwen said, staring wide-eyed at the Morales family.

“Miles? Who is this?” his dad asked.

“And why is she in your room?” his mother asked.

Gwen looked between Miles and his parents, waiting for Miles to say something. Finally she pulled her foot in (though part of her thought it’d be smarter to run) and said “Hi, I’m Gwan... _ Gwen _ . I go to school with Miles.”

“Hi,” Miles’ father said, looking between his son and Gwen.

“I had to, uh, talk to him about this assignment we had;  _ right _ , Miles?”

“Huh?” Miles responded. The glare he got from Gwen as well as the  _ WTF _ glances from his parents snapped him back to reality. “I mean, yeah! Um...the assignment.”

“What assignment?” his mom asked.

“History,” Gwen answered.

“Science,” Miles answered at the same time. Mentally kicking himself, Miles continued with “It’s, uh...the  _ history _ of science. Very, very complicated.”

Miles couldn’t tell if his parents bought it or not; Gwen, meanwhile, was wondering if it wasn’t too late to dive out the window.

“Alright then,” his dad finally said after a tense few seconds. “It’s nice to meet you, Gwen. Next time try using the front door, though, huh?”

“Yes sir,” she said, nodding.

“Oh, why don’t you stay for dinner?” Miles’ mother asked.

“Uh, no, I, uh...I’ve got to get home,” Gwen said. “But thank you. Maybe next time?”

Miles’ mother nodded. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You too,” Gwen said.

Rio looked to her husband and nodded towards the door. Jefferson got the hint, but not before meeting his son’s eye and giving him a wink.

When the door closed behind them, Gwen turned to Miles and whispered “You are  _ really _ bad at lying.”

He shrugged. “I don’t think it went too bad.”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Really? The ‘history’ of science?”

“Says the girl that came up with ‘Gwanda’.”

Gwen started to say something back, then stopped herself. “Okay, you got me there.”

Miles grinned smugly. “Come on. I’ll walk you out.”

The two walked to the front door, with Miles’ parents saying goodbye again. When they got outside, Miles turned to Gwen. “So why exactly did you come over?”

She shrugged. “I wanted to see if you wanted to go webbing or something.”

“Oh. Well, how about tomorrow? We can go find some bad guys to punch.”

“Okay,” she said, nodding. She turned to leave before she remembered something. “By the way, you talk in your sleep.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. When I climbed in your window, I thought you were on the phone or something, but you were kind of just whispering to yourself.”

Miles looked like a deer in headlights. “Oh.”

“What was it about?”

“Huh?”

“The dream.”

“Oh. Uh...I don’t remember.”

“Hm,” she said with a nod.

“I’m sorry about my parents,” he said, changing the subject.

“I’m sorry I climbed in your window,” she said. “But your parents are nice.”

“Yeah, they’re pretty cool.”

“What was with your dad winking, though?”

“Oh. He just...I think he thought we were...uh...I don’t know.”

She smiled again. “Okay, then. So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Cool.”

Miles said goodbye and went back inside. Gwen walked down the street into an alley. As she took out the remote that would take her back to Earth-65 she smiled, remembering Miles’ sleep-talking. She was curious what the dream had been about, but decided not to bust his chops about it too much. Something he’d said in his sleep stuck with her, though:

_ I got you, Gwen. _

A light shone in front of her, and with one last glance over her shoulder, she stepped back into her universe.


	4. The Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe not the talk you were thinking of, but still a talk.

Friday night, Rio Morales had a look of concern on her face as she and her husband, Jefferson, got ready for bed.

“Jeff, I think you need to have a talk with Miles.”

“About what?”

“Sneaking girls into his room, for one.”

“Rio, they were just working on a project.”

His wife raised a critical eyebrow. “Don’t tell me you believed that.”

“Uh...well no, obviously. But Rio, come on, you know Miles, he wouldn’t be in there doing anything he’s not supposed to. He’s a good kid.”

“I know,” she said, nodding. “He is. But…”

“But what?”

“I worry sometimes, Jeff. He’s growing up. And...you had the talk with him, didn’t you?”

“Huh? What talk?”

“You know…” Whispering, she said “ _ The _ talk.”

“What do you...oh! Oh! Uh...yeah, we...we talked about it.”

“Jefferson…”

He sighed. “Okay, fine, Rio. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

“Mi amor,” she said, hugging his arm as she cuddled into his side.

Jefferson put off the talk until Sunday afternoon, when Miles was going through the early stages of preparing to return to Visions Academy. Knowing he’d promised his wife, and realizing he couldn’t drag his feet anymore, the policeman went to his son’s room as Miles was finishing something .

“Miles, can we talk for a minute?”

Miles looked up from his desk, where he was working on a drawing. Turning down the song he was listening to, he said “Sure, dad.”

Jefferson walked in. “Nice,” he said, looking at the picture. He had no idea what it was supposed to be.

“Thanks. So what’s up?”

“Um...your mom...well, both of us...you can’t...I mean, we want you to know….” Miles was looking confused. Taking a deep breath, Jefferson thought  _ You’ve chased down killers, you’ve been shot at, and you saw another universe open up in front of you. You can talk to your son about sex _ . “That whole Gwen thing.”

“Look, dad, she…”

“You can’t have a girl in your room. Not with us not knowing.”

“I know, dad. I’m sorry.”

“Good.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he said “And, uh...you know about... _ it _ , right?”

“It?”

“You know... _ it _ ?”

“Dad, what’re you talking about?”

“Sex, mijo, he’s talking about sex,” his mom called from the next room.

“Mom!” Miles shouted.

“Rio!” Jefferson said back. He shut the door.

“Are you really here to talk to me about that?” Miles asked.

“Well…”

“Oh my gosh,” Miles said, putting his head in his hands. “Dad, there’s nothing happening with me and Gwen.”

“There isn’t?” Jefferson sat on his son’s bed. 

“No! She’s just a friend.”

“So you and her aren’t…”

“No! Please, can we not do this?”

“Okay,” Jefferson said, nodding. “Okay. Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing. It’s just...I thought I…” he shrugged. “I thought I saw something between you two. Do you like her?”

“Well, she’s...she’s nice. And she’s cool and fun to be around.” Seeing his dad nod, he added “But no, we’re...we’re just friends.”

“Okay,” Jefferson said. Standing, he said “Look, if your mother asks, we talked about it, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Good.” He clapped Miles on the back, then left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rio sat at the kitchen table, holding a cup of coffee as she waited eagerly. “So?”

“So, what?” he asked nonchalantly as he poured himself a cup.

“Did you talk?”

“Yeah. We talked. He says him and Gwen are just friends, that’s all.”

“Oh. Okay. That’s good.” When she saw her husband smiling, though, she asked “What?”

Sitting down at the table, Jefferson said “He likes her.”

“But you said they were friends.”

“I know. But I can tell,” he said, bringing the cup to his lips, “He likes her.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter will be coming (very) soon.


	5. Your Friendly Neighborhood Advice-Man

Miles and Gwen sat side by side atop a rooftop, legs dangling over the side of the building as they unwrapped their food. It was two days after Gwen’s impromptu visit to the Morales household, a Sunday. Three hours ago, Miles had said goodbye to his parents and told them he’d be taking the subway back to Visions Academy. Instead, he’d texted Gwen when he had put some distance between himself and his parents, and for the past two hours they had been swinging around town, mostly putting out small fires. Gwen had been hungry, so after a quick costume change Miles got them some burgers and fries from a small burger joint he knew. The two had then scampered up a building, masks half-way on as they sat down to eat.

“I’m telling you, they make the best burgers in Brooklyn,” Miles said before he took a bite from his bacon burger.

Gwen didn’t look impressed. Looking her burger over, she asked “ _ This _ is supposed to be the best burger?”

Miles nodded enthusiastically. “Take a bite.” Reluctantly, Gwen did. Miles watched with bated breath. “Well?”

She chewed a minute, then shrugged. “It’s alright, I guess. A little greasy.”

“What’s wrong with greasy?” he asked, taking a big bite from his own burger.

“Nothing,” she said, pulling a pickle out of her burger and placing it on the wrapper. “Hate pickles.”

“How do you not like pickles?” Miles asked, picking up the discarded food and popping it into his mouth.

Gwen shrugged. “I just don’t like them. They taste nasty.”

Miles shook his head. “Next thing you’re going to say is you don’t like bacon.”

When she didn’t say anything right away, he looked to her with wide eyes. “You don’t like bacon!!”

“I  _ like _ it,” she said, taking off another pickle, “But, I mean, it’s not the best thing ever like people make it out to be.” Pointing a finger at him, she added “But I never said I didn’t like it.”

“Well. At least Spider-Ham would be proud.”

They both laughed at that, then went back to eating their food. After a moment, Miles asked “So where do you like to eat? You know, in your universe.”

“The Crust,” she answered, recalling a pizza place she’d once told Miles about. “McDonald’s.”

“They have McDonald’s in your universe?”

She chuckled. “Yeah. Every universe has one.” She swallowed the food she’d been chewing. “Except maybe Noir’s.” Remembering something, she added “And there’s this really nice place, Jonah’s. I went there on a date once, it was really…”

Miles choked on a piece of lettuce. Clearing his throat, he asked “Date? You, uh...do you date a lot?”

She shook her head. “It was with Peter.”

“Oh.”

“And it wasn’t really a date;  _ I _ thought it was.”

Miles nodded. “Was it weird for you? Meeting, you know...the  _ other _ Peter?”

“A little at first, but...they’re different people.” She smiled. “The Peter I knew wasn’t so fat.”

“He’s not that...fat,” Miles said, not really believing the words himself.

Gwen gave him a look. “He has a beer belly, Miles.”

“Well...yeah, but...okay, he’s fat. But he’s good at what he does.”

“He is,” Gwen admitted.

“So it wasn’t a date with your Peter?”

“No.”

“Do you…” He was curious about something, but was reluctant to ask. “Do you date a lot?”

“ _ No _ . No friends, remember?”

“Right,” he said.

“Besides,” she said, looking down at her slipper-clad feet, “I’m too busy for something like that. I mean, what guy’s gonna want to date a girl that’s always jumping out the window to go web up bad guys?”

_ I would _ , Miles thought to himself. Aloud, he said “I wonder how Peter does it.”

Gwen smiled. “Not very well, apparently; look what happened with him and Mary Jane.”

“True,” Miles admitted, “But they’re back together, so...it can’t be all bad, right?”

“I guess,” she said, beginning to gather her trash. “Are you ready?”

Miles nodded, then saw Gwen’s fries that were mostly untouched. “You’re not going to eat those?”

She shook her head. “I’m full.” She picked them up, and after looking around them, saw a man walking on the street below. “Hey, guy!” she called down. The man looked up, and squinted at the two spider-people above him.

“What?”

“You want some fries?”

He shrugged. “Sure!”

Gwen attached a webline to the fries, and lowered them down to the man. He pulled them off the web. “Thanks!” Looking at Miles, he called “Hey, Spider-Man! I like your girlfriend!”

“Thanks, but she’s not my...uh…” Miles nervously looked at Gwen, who was shaking her head. “She’s not my girlfriend!”

The man waved Miles off, and kept walking.

“Can you believe that?” Miles asked, turning back to Gwen.

“I know, right?” she replied. But as Miles glanced at her, he almost saw a...glimpse of a blush?

“We should get going,” she said. Pulling her mask on all the way, she said “Race you to the subway?”

“Sure,” he answered, pulling down his mask. “On three? One…”

“Three!” Gwen said, jumping and shooting out a webline.

“No fair!” Miles called to her back as he attempted to catch up.

Finally, after another hour of patrolling the city, they decided to call it a night. They perched atop a building across the street from Visions Academy.

“Well, this was fun,” Gwen said, taking off her mask.

“Yeah, maybe I can come to your universe sometime and help  _ you _ ,” Miles said as he took off his own mask.

“Yeah,” she agreed as she fished her transporter from her pocket. “And maybe if you meet my dad, you can lie about being Spider-Man better than you did to  _ your _ dad.”

“My lie was great!” he exclaimed.

“Really? The ‘history’ of science?”

“It wasn’t too bad,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

She grinned. “You’re so cute when you lie.”

“I….wait, what?”

“What?” She asked, looking away.

“Did you just say I’m cute?”

“What?  _ No _ , why would I say that?” Gwen’s face was in the early stages of a blush again.

Miles was grinning. “You just said I’m cute.”

“No, I said…that’s my  _ cue _ , like, that’s my cue to leave.” She shook her head. “I, uh...I gotta go. Bye!” With a click, she pressed the button and jumped into her universe.

Miles grinned.  _ She thinks I’m cute? _

 

That was, of course, all Miles could think about over the next few days. She could’ve possibly meant it as a joke, he knew, but he was choosing to be optimistic.

With it on his mind, he wanted to talk to somebody about it; his dad was out of the question, as he wanted to discuss it with somebody who knew about spider-powers. He didn’t think his roommate, Ganke, was the best choice. As far as Miles knew, Ganke had as much experience with girls as he did.

Not knowing who else to call, he sent a inter-dimensional text to Peter B. Parker, asking to meet up.

 

“So...I wanted to ask you for a little help,” he asked when they met that Thursday at  Krysoulas.

Looking over the menu, Peter asked “With what? Making web fluid? Making a new costume? Keeping the mask from getting smelly?”

“No, it’s not that. Um...I had a question about, uh...girls.”

Peter raised an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, Miles, you sure you want to ask  _ me _ about that? I mean...I’m not exactly batting a thousand here.”

Miles frowned. “I thought you fixed things with Mary Jane.”

“I did, but still...don’t you want to ask your dad about this kind of thing?”

“No, he wouldn’t really understand.”

“Wait a minute,” Peter said, “Is this about that girl?”

“What girl?”

“You know, the one you were making googly eyes with, Spider-Blonde.”

“We weren’t making googly eyes…”

Peter scoffed. “Yeah, right.”

“And it’s Spider-Gwen. Or Spider-Woman. Gwen. Listen, I just...how do I talk to her?”

“What do you mean, how do you talk to her? You just  _ talk _ to her.”

“I know, but...what do I say?”

“I don’t know, ask her about herself. Talk about school, talk about fighting crime. ‘Hey, you have a Green Goblin,  _ I _ have a Green Goblin.’ You know, stuff like that.”

“But I don’t know if I have a Green Goblin.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “It was an example.” He closed the menu. “You know you’re making this a lot harder than it needs to be. Wanna know how I broke the ice with MJ? All I said was ‘You’re stepping on my foot’ and  _ boom _ , foot in the door. It’s as easy as that.”

“You’re stepping on my foot?”

“It was the nineties, you wouldn’t understand. Anyway...you’ve got to have talked to this girl like a billion times already? And what you’re doing seems to be working somewhat, ‘cause she’s still talking to you.”

Miles thought back to his “hey” moment with Gwen at school, and how spectacularly that had failed. “What I’ve been doing hasn’t really...worked,” he told Peter.

“She may have super-powers,” Peter said with a shrug, “But she’s still a person. Just be yourself.”

Miles moaned. He didn’t think being himself was enough.

 

Back on Earth-65, Gwen and the Mary Janes were putting away their equipment, having just finished rehearsing. Gwen, already finished with her drums, was sitting against a wall, waiting for her bandmates to finish when her phone buzzed, alerting her to a text. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she smiled when she saw the text was from Miles.  _ Hey. Swing-time this weekend? _

She texted back with a  _ Sure. Just let me know when, spider-boy _ .

She smiled as she awaited his response. She was glad he hadn’t brought up the whole “cute” slip of the tongue; that was an embarrassment she’d never live down. The past few days she’d been kicking herself for saying that aloud. And wondering why it was even in her head; she didn’t think about Miles’ looks.  _ I mean _ , she thought to herself,  _ It’s not like he’s ugly, either _ . _ He is kind of cute, in a way, and… _

She stopped herself, wondering  _ What are you doing? _

Bored, she went to her pictures, pulling up the pic she had of her and Miles. She looked down at it, smiling, and didn’t notice when Em Jay sat next to her. “Who’s that?”

Gwen exited from the picture, feeling a blush coming. “No one. Just a, uh...someone I know.”

Em Jay nodded. “He’s cute. Anyway, we were going to get some McDonald’s. You hungry?”

For some reason-and she didn’t know why-Gwen felt a sudden pang of... _ jealousy? _ ...when Em Jay complimented Miles. She got over it, and decided to stand, telling her bandmate “I could eat. Just let me grab my jacket.” As she stood, her phone buzzed, letting her know Miles had texted her back.

_ c u saturday, Gwanda _ .

She grinned, shaking her head. He was adorable.


	6. Crush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this series! I was hesitant to venture out of my original fandom, but I've just been overwhelmed with the response this story has received. Thanks!

The weekend came, and Miles took Saturday morning to sleep in. After a week of homework, essays, and web-slinging, he felt he deserved a twelve hour night of sleep. In fact, he would’ve slept longer if his roommate hadn’t shaken him awake.

“Huh? What?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. Blinking himself awake, he looked to Ganke and asked “What time is it?”

“It’s almost eleven,” Ganke said, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Oh. Good. I got a couple more hours to sleep, then,” he said, closing his eyes once more.

“Uh…” Ganke poked him once more.

“Jeez, man, what is it now?” Miles asked.

“Your phone’s been vibrating for the last couple of minutes.”

Miles waved it off. “I’ll get back to them later.”

“It’s from that girl? Gwen?”

That got Miles to sit up quickly, so fast that he almost hit his head on the ceiling. Grabbing his phone he saw that he had, indeed, 3 text messages from Earth-65’s Gwen Stacy.

_ What time r we meeting? _

_ Spider-Boy? _

_ Miles? _

The last text had came less than two minutes ago, and he quickly sent back a response, suggesting a time.

“She’s totally your girlfriend,” Ganke said as Miles set his phone down, falling onto his back in the process.

“No she’s not.”

“Please. You should’ve seen yourself jump up when I told you it was her.”

“She’s my friend,” Miles said in response. 

“Do you text me back that quickly?”

Miles closed his eyes. “Just...drop it, Ganke.”

His roommate grinned. “Whatever you say, Spider-Man.”

*

In Earth 65, Gwen sat at her drums, reading over the text she got from Miles-

_ Five o’clock should work, Gwanda _ .

She smiled at the nickname, and started to text something back when suddenly she felt someone over her shoulder.

“Who’s Miles?” Betty Brant, who’d somehow sidled up behind Gwen, asked as she looked down at Gwen’s phone.

“No one,” Gwen said, quickly and nervously pocketing her phone.

“Is that that cute boy you were texting the other day?” Em Jay, tuning her guitar, asked.

“He’s just a friend, okay?” Gwen asked, dying to change the subject; she could feel her cheeks heating up, and her bandmates noticed.

“Oh my gosh she’s blushing!” Betty said. “She’s totally got a crush!”

“ _ No _ , I do not,” Gwen stated, snatching up her drumsticks angrily, trying not to break them in the process. “Can we just practice?”

“Yeah, seriously,” Glory Grant, the fourth member of the band said. “The gig’s tomorrow, and we still don’t have this song down.”

“Fine,” Em Jay said, casting a knowing smile at Gwen. Gwen rolled her eyes so hard she was briefly afraid they’d roll out of their sockets.

A  _ crush _ ? No, Gwen did not have a  _ crush _ on Miles Morales, that was ridiculous. Sure, he was kind of cute, in a way. He was funny, she’d give him that. And the way his dimples pinched in when he smiled was adorable and  _ oh my God do I have a crush on Miles Morales _ ? she thought.

“Earth to Gwen?” Betty asked, snapping her out of her daydream.

“I’m good,” Gwen responded.

“Alright, then. I was afraid you were still thinking about Miles,” she teased.

Gwen groaned.  _ This is why I don’t do friends _ .

*

A few hours later Miles waited on the rooftop across from his dorm, playing a game on his phone when there was a sudden bright light behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he said “I don’t know how they do it on your Earth, but here when someone agrees to five o’clock they mean five o’clock, not five-thirty.”

Gwen whipped off her mask. “Sorry. I lost track of time.” She took a seat next to him.

Miles shrugged it off. “Whatever, it’s okay. Everything good?”

“Yeah,” she said with a nod. “Everything’s good.”

They spent a few minutes playing catch up, with Miles talking about the latest happenings at Visions Academy while Gwen shared what was going on in her world. Miles quickly picked up on how excited she was for her performance.

“So this show,” he asked, “It’s tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “It’s at this club Em Jay’s been trying to get us into forever. The owner finally came around into letting us play there.”

Miles smiled. He liked hearing Gwen get excited about things, which was a rarity. But she was really passionate about her band, and it showed on her face. Kind of like when he talked about his art, he figured.

Gwen, meanwhile, was so caught up in talking about tomorrow’s show that she hadn’t realized how close she was sitting to Miles. Their legs were touching, and she self-consciously scooched away a bit. “Sorry,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Miles shrugged. “It’s okay.”

He didn’t seem to care or mind, which got Gwen wondering why  _ she _ was making such a big deal about it. Ever since Betty had thrown out the word “crush” she’d been second guessing everything she did around Miles.

_ Stupid Betty _ .

Still, sitting here on a rooftop, with the sun setting in front of them; talking about her band, sitting next to Miles, she realized there was no where (and with no  _ one _ ) she’d rather be.

She glanced over at Miles, who was looking out at the city and she felt a shy smile come over her.

_ Ah, crap _ , she thought.  _ Maybe this *is* a crush _ .

“You ready?” Miles asked, turning to her.

“Yep,” she replied, pulling her mask on. She needed something,  _ any _ thing, to get her out of her own head; she was scaring herself.

 

A couple of hours later they returned, having stopped a few robberies and having saved a cat stuck in a tree.

“It’s been a while since I had, like, a  _ real _ bad guy,” Miles complained as he took off his mask.

“Shouldn’t that be a good thing?” Gwen asked as she removed her own.

“Yeah, but...don’t tell me you don’t get an extra kick from hitting somebody like Kingpin.”

“As big as he is, there’s so much room to hit,” Gwen joked, which got Miles chuckling.

“Do you have a Kingpin on your Earth?”

“Not yet, and I’m hoping it stays that way.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the goober.

“So what time’s your show tomorrow?”

“Six,” she answered. “Why?”

“You think I could come? I’ve never seen you play.”

Gwen thought back to the teasing she’d received earlier from her bandmates. “Um...maybe.”

There was a sudden  _ thwip _ , as Miles pulled the goober into his hand.

“Hey!” Gwen said.

“I just wanted to see it,” he responded. Turning it in his hands, he looked at it and asked “How hard was it to make?”

“Not too hard.”

“Can you show me how to make one?”

“I don’t know,” she teased. “You might be too young and irresponsible with it.”

“You’re  _ barely _ older than me.”

“Fifteen months,” she reminded him.

“You really like rubbing that in, don’t you?”

“It’s pretty significant,” she said, stepping closer as she tried to take back the goober. “Can I have that back now?”

He held it over his head.“If you admit fifteen months isn’t some huge number.”

“Are we really doing this?” she asked.

“No,” Miles answered, pulling his hand down. He held the goober out, but when she went to take it he yanked it back, saying, “Okay,  _ now _ we are.”

“So juvenile,” she said, webbing his foot and tripping him onto his back. However, Miles webbed her shoulder, pulling him down with her. Unfortunately, Gwen landed right on top of him.

“Ow,” Miles said. “Get off of me.”

“You pulled  _ me _ down,” she said, attempting to get up. “Can I have it back now?”

“Yeah, fine, just give me a second.” His head turned and the two were suddenly eye to eye, their faces only a few inches apart. As he stared into her eyes, Miles’ mind raced with the right thing to say:

_ You have pretty eyes. _

_ You smell nice. _

_ I think your freckles are cute _ .

Instead, he said “You’re heavier than you look.”

Gwen gave him a look that said  _ Really? _ “Miles?” she finally said softly.

“Y-yeah, Gwen?”

“Where’s the goober?”

Miles snapped out of it, and looked over his shoulder. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Her eyes followed his gaze. “ _ No! _ ”

A few feet away from Miles’ head were the remnants of what had been the goober. Gwen ripped off the webbing on her arm, and, climbing over Miles, made her way to the crushed pieces. “Nonononono,” she said. “How am I supposed to get back?”

“Gwen,” Miles said, sitting up. “I’m…”

“This is your fault,” she said angrily. “If you weren’t trying to keep it away from me it wouldn’t have broken.”

“I’m sorry,” Miles said.

Gwen moaned, and scooped up the pieces.

“Maybe we can fix it?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t make it,” she admitted.

“What do you mean?”

“This other guy, another Spider-Man, I got it from him.”

“You met another one?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “His name’s Miguel. He, uh...showed up at my school one day, and told me he knew who I was. And he gave me this thing,” she said, holding up the pieces, “and said to use it if I ever needed help.”

“How come he didn’t come to see me?” Miles wondered aloud.

Gwen shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he just hasn’t gotten around to it yet.”

Miles nodded, as something dawned on him. “Wait, he gave it to you for help and stuff?”

“Yeah…”

“And...and you used it to see me?”

Gwen looked away shyly. “Well...yeah, I guess.”

“That’s...cool.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean if  _ I _ had a little remote that would transport me across galaxies I’d come and see you, too.”

Gwen smiled;  _ Is he flirting with me? _ she wondered. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

“I’m sorry I broke your thing.”

She sighed, looking down at the pieces in her hands.

“Look,” Miles said, “We’ll fix it.”

“But  _ how _ ? We don’t even know how to make one.”

“We’ll figure something out,” he said as she stood up. “I swear, you’ll be back in time for your concert.”

She nodded, but wasn’t sure if she believed him. “Where am I going to stay?”

“You can stay with me,” he said, smiling. “You can sleep with me….I mean sleep in my bed….I mean sleep in my  _ room _ !” he corrected, eyes going wide. “Uh...my roommate’s out of town this weekend, and, uh...you could sleep in his bed, and I’ll sleep in mine. Yeah. Just...yeah.”

Gwen couldn’t help but smile at his awkwardness. “Okay. Lead the way, Spider-Man.”

Miles, his heartbeat finally getting back to normal, nodded his head as he pulled on his mask. Gwen did the same, and the two webbed towards Visions Academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to *try* and have the next chapter up on Tuesday (the date of the Blu-Ray release), but no guarantees. Again, thanks for reading.  
> P.S. I couldn't remember whether or not Gwen had freckles, but in this story she has a few.


	7. Little Help?

Miles opened his window, and the two spider-teens crawled inside of the small dorm room.

“Ugh,” Gwen muttered. “I forgot how much it smells in here.”

“What smell?” Miles asked, taking a whiff.

“Dirty clothes, leftovers...seriously, when was the last time you guys did laundry?”

“And I take it your place smells like roses and daisies?”

“No, but at least it…” she paused, taking her mask off in the process. “I’m sorry. I’m just still upset about this whole thing.”

“It’s okay, I get it.”

“Thanks for doing this,” Gwen mentioned.

“It’s the least I could do,” Miles responded, closing the window behind them.

“How come you didn’t go home?” she asked.

“What?”

“Don’t you usually go home on the weekends?”

“My dad had some policeman’s retreat, and my mom went with him, so…”

Gwen nodded, taking a seat on Ganke’s bed. Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the remnants of the goober. “I can’t believe this.”

“We’re gonna fix it,” Miles said, taking a seat next to her. “I promise.”

She nodded, fidgeting with the broken remote. “Hopefully I won’t start glitching again.”

“You haven’t been glitching the last few times, you should be okay.”

“But I don’t know how long it’ll be, or…” she sighed, and lay her head on his shoulder. “I just don’t want anything bad to happen.”

Miles, trying to get over the fact that Gwen’s head was _resting on his shoulder_ asked “Wh-what do you mean?”

“To me, or my band. Or you.”

“Why would something bad happen to me?”

“I don’t know.”

Miles wrapped his arm around her, rubbing her arm. “You’re gonna be fine, Gwen.”

They sat there a moment before Gwen suddenly realized how she was sitting and sprang up, putting some distance between she and Miles. “Sorry,” she said.

“Yeah, um..no problem.” Miles stood up. “I’m, uh...going to go change and stuff. In the bathroom, down the hall. Make yourself at home.” He scooped up a handful of clothes, and tossed them on, over his spider-suit. Giving Gwen one last smile, he left the room.

 _Wow_ , Gwen thought. _What exactly was that?_ One minute she was venting about things and the next she was resting against Miles.

 _Maybe I shouldn’t stay here tonight_ , she thought to herself. _There’s no telling what might happen._ She stood up, trying to think if there was anywhere else she could go.

 _There’s got to be another dorm available_ , she thought. _Maybe use my spider-sense to figure out which rooms are open and which have people in them._ She paused when something on Miles’ bed caught her eye-his sketchpad. She turned it towards her and opened it, seeing graffitti ( _tagging_ , she remembered he called it), as well as a few random drawings. She saw a page of just Spider-Men sketches, then a page of the other spiders-Peni, Peter, she and Noir. After that was a one-pager of Gwen herself. She smiled, looking at the drawing; Miles was talented, she’d give him that. She wondered if he’d let her keep it.

 _Maybe I can stay_ , she told herself. _It shouldn’t be too bad_.

She sat back down on Ganke’s bed just as the door opened, Miles coming in wearing a t shirt and sweats. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Nobody’s in the bathroom, if you need to go.”

She shook her head as she slipped off her shoes. “I’m good.”

Miles nodded, and hopped up onto his bed. “Is there anybody you need to call?”

“My dad, maybe,” she said. “But he’s working all night, hopefully I can beat him home.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a police chief.”

“Hey,” Miles said, peeking below. “How come you never said anything about your dad being a cop?”

“I just did.”

“Well, like, before.”

Gwen shrugged, yawning as she did so. “I dunno.”

“Does he know about Spider-Woman?”

“He does,” she admitted.

“How does he feel about it?”

I don’t know. We don’t really talk about it, but I don’t think he’s a big fan.” Miles pulled his head back, so he now sat on his back on the upper bunk. “Have you ever thought of telling your parents?” Gwen asked.

“About the whole Spider-Man thing? No. I don’t think it’d go over too well. After what happened to my uncle, I don’t think my dad would be too happy about it.”

“But your uncle was a bad guy. You’re a hero.”

Miles smiled at being called a hero. “Yeah, but...a costume’s a costume; a mask’s a mask. He’s kind of chilled with his whole ‘Spider-Man is Evil’ thing, but he’s still not his favorite person.”

“What about your mom?”

Miles sighed. “She’s a little better, but...I can’t tell my mom and _not_ tell my dad.”

Below him, Gwen nodded. “I understand.”

“What about _your_ mom? Does she know?”

“No; she, uh...she died when I was little.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. For the longest time, it’s just been my dad and I. Him finding out who I was kind of put a damper on things, but for the most part he’s cool about it. Give your dad some time, he’ll come around.”

“Thanks.” The two were silent for a few minutes, and Gwen thought Miles had fallen asleep, until she heard him ask “So why Gwanda?”

“What?”

“Why’d you lie about your name when we met?”

“Oh. I just...I don’t know. I thought maybe I should be undercover here, you know? As far as I knew, there could’ve been another Gwen Stacy somewhere at the school.”

“Yeah, but... _Gwanda_?”

She chuckled. “It’s not _that_ bad.”

“It’s...African...South African,” he said, mimicking her voice.

“Shut up,” she said, poking the mattress above her as they both laughed. “I started to say Gwen, then realized I should say something else. Ergo, Gwanda.”

Miles chuckled once more. “There are literally a _thousand_ names you could’ve used. But...Gwanda’s kind of cool. It’s unique.”

“Thanks,” she said back quietly. She turned on her side, and her eyes met the crushed goober. “I just hope I can get back home, so I don’t have to legally change my name to Gwanda.”

“You won’t,” Miles said above her. “I promise I’ll get you home.”

Gwen yawned. “Thanks, Miles.”

“No problem, Gwanda.”

“God I hate you,” she muttered as she closed her eyes.

Miles grinned. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Miles.”

 

Miles learned a few things about Gwen that night:

First, that unfortunately she’d lost her mother at a young age.

Second, that not only was her dad a cop, but he knew about her being Spider-Woman.

And finally, that she snored like a freight train.

She’d fallen asleep quickly after they finished talking, and Miles began to hear some sound coming from beneath him. At first he thought it was maybe a semi-truck outside or something, but when he looked below he saw that indeed the sound was coming from Gwen.

 _How does such a pretty girl make a sound like that?_ he thought to himself.

Not able to sleep, he decided to try and get a head start on getting Gwen home. He took out his phone and sent a text through the universe to Peter B. Parker, hoping he would get back to him.

If he’d had the number, his next text would be to this Miguel person Gwen had talked about. This whole time he thought Gwen had been the one to create the goober, and he’d been meaning to ask her to teach him how to create his own. But now, finding out this Miguel guy had been the one to do it, changed things.

He didn’t think any less of Gwen; honestly, he was kind of touched that she would use it to see him. He was just curious as to why _he_ hadn’t met Miguel (whoever that was) yet.

Miles put his phone down and lay on his back, closing his eyes. Despite the snoring from below, he soon fell asleep.

He was woken a few hours later; the room was still dark, but Gwen’s snoring had softened. Miles’ phone was buzzing, and he scooped it up before it woke his guest.

Looking at the caller i.d., he was surprised at the number-it wasn’t Peter, it was Peni. And she wanted to video chat.

He snuck out his window, careful so as not to wake Gwen, and perched himself on the wall outside before pressing accept on his phone. “Peni?”

Her face came into view; the young girl was sitting in what appeared to be a lab or garage, with mechanical parts all around her. She was eating out of a bowl of candy as she looked at her phone. “Hey Miles. What’s up?”

“Um...not much.”

“Peter said you needed some help with something, a transporter?”

“Yeah! A goober. For Gwen.”

Peni frowned. “What happened to the one Miguel gave her?”

Now Miles frowned. “Did you get one from him, too?”  
“Yes. You didn’t?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“That’s weird,” Peni said before tossing a piece of candy into her mouth.

Miles was curious as to why Peter had Peni call him, but decided it was probably for the best; she _had_ made a giant robot, after all. Speaking of which… “Did you make a new robot?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Of course I made a new one.” She pointed over her shoulder, and a circular robot head poked out, waving. “Say hello to SP//dr 2.”

“Uh...hi, Spider 2.”

“So….” Peni said, typing quickly on the keyboard in front of her, “A goober.”

“Right. For Gwen.”

“What happened to hers?”

“It got smashed a few hours ago, and she’s stuck here.”

Peni nodded, popping another piece of candy into her mouth. “You should’ve called me first,” she said, typing again. “I’m a little hurt, Miles.”

“Well...I...sorry.”

The young girl smiled. “It’s okay. So…” She stared intently at something for a moment, then replied with “I can do it, but it’ll take some time. Is she glitching?”

“No, not yet. How much time?”

Peni shrugged. “A few hours. I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

“Thanks, Peni. I owe you one.”

She smiled. “Sayonara.”

“Hasta la Vista,” he said. Peni touched a button on her phone, and the screen went dark.

Miles let out a sigh. A few hours. Hopefully he’d be able to sleep.

 

A few hours later Miles lay sprawled out on his bed, mouth agape as Gwen slowly woke up. After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she checked the time-nearly noon-and decided she should get up. Her band’s performance was in a few hours, and she needed to figure out a way to get back home.

Thankfully she hadn’t began glitching yet; and she hoped it stayed that way. Climbing out from the bottom bunk, she glanced at Miles, who was sound asleep. _He’s cute when he’s sleeping_ , she thought, then immediately shook her head _Stop it. Stop it_.

 _First thing I need to do when I get back home_ , she thought as she watched him, _Is figure out what this thing is with Miles_.

As if knowing she was thinking about him, Miles began to blink himself awake. Their eyes met, and Miles let out a surprised yelp, shooting out a web at her before he scooted back against the wall.

The webbing landed on Gwen’s face, and she let out an exasperated sigh as she yanked it off. “What is _wrong_ with you?” she asked.

“What’s wrong with you? Why were you watching me sleep?”

“I _wasn’t_ ,” she said, finally managing to pry off the sticky fluid. “What’d you web me for?”

“I don’t know, I panicked.” They both took a moment to calm down, before Miles managed to say “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Gwen said, pulling off the last pieces of webbing. “Wait, you sleep with your web shooters?”

Miles paused, remembering he’d put them on when he’d gone outside to speak with Peni. “Uh...sometimes.”

“Weird,” she said, shaking her head.

Miles let out a yawn. “Wanna get breakfast?”

“Sure, just let me change or something.”

So Miles stepped into the hallway as Gwen borrowed some of his clothes, then the two went down to the cafeteria for a late breakfast.

“You sleep okay?” Miles asked once they had their trays.

“I guess,” she answered, pouring milk into her cereal. “What about you?”

“I slept alright. You snore, by the way.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“You snore.”

“No I don’t.”

“Trust me, Gwen, you do.”

She shook her head. Changing the subject, she said “Any ideas on getting me back home?”

“Well...kind of.”

“What’s ‘kind of’ mean?”

“It means you’re just going to have to be patient. But I promised I would get you back, and I will.”

Sure enough, when they went back to the room, Miles’ phone was buzzing, with Peni once again wanting to video chat. He pressed accept as soon as he picked the phone up.

“Hey Miles,” the young girl from Earth-3165 said. The candy had been traded for chips, as she snacked and twirled something small in her hand. Looking to Miles’ right, she saw his companion. “Hi, Gwen.”

“Hi, Peni,” Gwen said. “What’s wrong?” Seeing what was in Peni’s hands, she asked “Is that…?”

“Your very own goober,” Peni said, smiling.

“Peni, thanks! How did you know?”

“Miles,” Peni said, nodding at the boy next to Gwen. “Stand by, I’ll be there in a minute to hand it to you.” She pressed a button, and once again her screen went dark.

“It was going to be a surprise,” Miles began. “But see? I told you I would…”

Miles was cut off as Gwen hugged him, pulling him close to her as she did so. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Yeah, no problem,” Miles said back. They stayed like that for a minute, her hands clasped behind his neck as his were on her waist.

“Although, _technically_ ,” Gwen started, “I should be thanking Peni, since she built it.”

“Well, yeah, if you want to get technical about it,” Miles said, “But she wouldn’t even…”

“Relax, Spider-Man, I’m joking.”

“Oh. I knew that.”

Gwen smiled at him, thinking once again _he’s so cute when he lies_.

Miles, meanwhile, was wondering…. _should I...kiss her?_ He felt like if he ever had a shot, this was it.

As he debated it in his head, however, there was a sudden flash of blue light as Peni Parker stepped into Miles’ world. The two spider-teens let go of one another.

“Konichiwa,” Peni said, holding up a goober and handing it out to Gwen.

“Peni, you’re a lifesaver,” Gwen said, taking the device carefully.

“Happy to be of service,” Peni said, taking a bow. “And Miles,” she said, taking something out of a pocket, “I made one for you, too.”

“Cool. Thanks, Peni,” Miles said, looking it over.

The three spent a few minutes catching up before Peni headed back to her world. When she left, Gwen picked up her mask and said “Well, Miles? It’s been fun.”

“Same here. Good luck with your gig tonight.”

“Thanks.” She flicked the switch on the goober, and a bright light appeared before her. Before she stepped through, though, she stopped and said “Hey? You want to come?”

“See your band?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’ve never been to _my_ Earth, so…”

“Sure!” Miles pocketed his own goober as he began to follow Gwen. “Now in your universe, should I call you Gwen or Gwanda? Because I’m fine with either one.”

“Oh my gosh, I regret this already,” Gwen muttered as they walked through the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may end up adding another chapter to this. Thanks again for the love, you guys, it's appreciated so much. I'm going to take a very brief break from this; there's another story I'm trying to write. If I'm able to multi-task, it'll be up sooner. Thanks again.


	8. Down to Earth (65)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient! Hope you like...

“So I need your advice on girls.”

“Huh?” Miles, sitting on the top bunk in his dorm, looked up from the comic book he’d been reading. It was two weeks after Gwen had spent the night in the room, and Miles had been peacefully reading a comic book until his roommate posed the statement.

“I need some tips on girls.”

“Why do you think  _ I _ would be any help?” he asked Ganke.

“Because you’ve got Gwen,” Ganke explained.

Miles chuckled as he shook his head. “I do  _ not _ have Gwen, man.”

Ganke rolled his eyes. “Are you still on this? You hang out with her all the time, you’re always texting each other and going on adventures…”

“She’s my friend,” Miles replied with a shrug. Although, he thought, he  _ had _ wanted to kiss her the last time she was here in this room. And there  _ had _ been the glorious minute and a half where she’d rested her head on his shoulder. Miles knew how he felt about Gwen, but didn’t think the feeling was reciprocated.

“Just a friend? Yeah, right,” Ganke said.

“Look, just...what do you need?” Miles asked.

“There’s this girl in my lit class, and I think...I think I may have a chance. What do I say?”

Miles grinned. “Have you tried the shoulder touch?”

Ganke looked confused. “The what?”

“Come here,” Miles said, jumping off his bunk. Ganke complied, standing next to Miles.

“Tomorrow, when you see her,” Miles instructed, “You walk up to her, and be like…” He touched Ganke’s shoulder. “ _ Hey _ .”

Ganke raised his eyebrow, confused. “Are you serious?”

“Yes I’m serious,” Miles answered, removing his hand. “It’s, like, science and stuff.”

“So,” Ganke put his hand on Miles’ shoulder. “Hey?”

“No, you’ve got to make your voice deeper, like….hey.”

“Hey?”

“Hey.”

“Hey??”

“ _ Hey _ .”

They heard a giggle come from somewhere, and both boys glanced towards their window, where Gwen Stacy was perched, watching them with interest. “Now where have I seen this before?” she asked aloud.

“Oh, hey,” Miles, said, pulling his hand from Ganke’s shoulder, and pulling off a strip of the fabric with it.

“ _ Ow _ ,” Ganke said.

“Sorry! Um….it...it was an accident…”

Gwen climbed in the window.

“I’m gonna go change shirts,” Ganke said, shaking his head as he grabbed a shirt from his dresser.

After the door closed, Miles yanked off the small piece of shirt and looked to Gwen. “So, um...what’s up?”

“Not much. I just got finished with this science report. Ugh,” she said, shuddering. “That’s two days of my life I’ll never get back. What’re you up to?”

“Um…” he attempted to nonchalantly push the comic book he’d been reading under his pillow, “The same. Finishing up a history paper.”

“That wouldn’t be the history of science, would it?” Gwen teased.

Miles smirked. “Hey, I stand by that.”

The door opened, and Ganke came back in. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.

Gwen shook her head. “I’m about to leave.” Looking at Miles, she asked “So, hey, what’re you doing this weekend?”

“Um...not much. Going back home. Why, you miss me?” he asked, teasing.

“Actually, kind of,” she admitted. “I need some swing-time. What do you say, Friday when school’s out?”

“Okay, it’s a date. Um! I mean...Sure. I’ll, uh...I’ll see you then.”

Gwen raised an eyebrow. “You’re so weird. See you Friday,” she said, before pressing a button on her remote and going back to her universe.

“Real smooth,” Ganke said.

 

As she walked back into Earth-65, Gwen felt herself grinning as she closed the portal behind her, replaying the scene between Miles and his roommate.

_ Hey. _

So that’s what Miles had been doing when she’d purposely bumped into him in the hallway at Visions Academy, hitting on her. It was actually kind of adorable, to be honest.

She was still going back and forth about her feelings towards Earth 1610’s version of Spider-Man. Though she had come to terms that she had somewhat of a crush on him, she hadn’t decided yet what she was going to do about it. The logical part of her wanted to push it down and forget about it; that made sense, after all. They were literally from two different universes, it wouldn’t work. And besides, what if they did date and it didn’t work out? She’d hate to lose him as a friend. Heck, he was her best-and only-friend.

The other part of her wanted to tell him how she felt. She knew it was a risk, but she felt things would forever be awkward between the two of them if she kept it inside. What she needed, she thought, was someone to talk to about this. But there was her issue-her lack of friends. Sure, there were her bandmates, but she’d gotten enough teasing about Miles from them that she didn’t dare go to them about this.

For the foreseeable future, she’d continue to keep this to herself, and try to push down any uncomfortable feelings that arose. They were still friends, after all. They’d be okay.

 

Miles, meanwhile, was still thinking about what Ganke had said:  _ Because you’ve got Gwen. _

He knew that he didn’t “have” Gwen in any sense of the word. Their relationship had grown, yes-she was probably his best friend-but he didn’t believe it had grown to the point where he would risk telling her how he felt about her. And although he believed that he was possibly seeing signs-that minute of her laying her head on his shoulder still made him smile-he remained nervous about the whole thing, fully aware that he could ruin things with this girl. He had tried Peter’s advice-just being himself, talking to her; but he didn’t feel like he had made any progress. So if they were meant to be friends, they’d be best friends.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t do nice things for her.

So before Friday came, he made a sketch (Gwen had recently commented how she liked his drawings) for her to give as a gift.

**

“Wow, so this is Brooklyn,” Miles said, wide-eyed, as he walked with Gwen. It was Friday, and they were currently in their civilian clothes, just a couple of teenagers hanging out, walking through the Brooklyn streets of Earth 65.

“Bringing back memories?” Gwen asked.

Miles shrugged. “Yeah, I mean...it looks pretty much the same. Just...I don’t know...brighter. Do you ever get a sense of deja vu when you come to my universe?”

“Sometimes. Your universe is a little more...I don’t know...dirty,” she said with a grin.

Miles stepped over a pile of trash. “It looks pretty dirty here to me. Oh! I want to see if my house is here.” He took off in a sprint, Gwen grinning behind him as she tried to keep up.

They stopped across the street from a familiar apartment building. Miles smiled as he looked it over. “Home sweet home,” he muttered.

The Jefferson-Morales home looked mostly the same from the outside, with a tree there and the crack on the third step there. But the color of the outside was different, a bright blue while his own was a standard New York apartment-brown.

“This is so weird right now,” Miles said. “It’s my house, but...it’s not.” Pulling out his phone, he said “I want a picture of it.”

“Such a tourist,” Gwen said, shaking her head.

Miles began to take a standard picture, then jogged across the street to get a selfie. Gwen followed him in front of the house. “You want me to take it?” she offered.

“No, I’ve got it,” he said.

There was a woman walking by who saw the two teens. “I can take your picture for you,” she said. “The two of you?”

“Oh,” Gwen said, “I’m not…”

“Come on,” Miles said, pulling her next to him as he handed his phone to the woman. “Thank you.”

“Okay, guess we’re doing this,” Gwen muttered. Miles put his hands into his pockets while Gwen did the same, the two smiling at the camera. There was a flash as the woman took the photo.

“Thank you,” Miles repeated.

“No problem. First time in New York?”

“Kind of,” Miles said, taking back his phone.

“Well. Enjoy it. New York is a beautiful place for a nice young couple like yourselves.”

“We’re...we’re not a…” Miles began.

“Take care!,” the woman called before she walked off.

Miles turned back to Gwen. “That was weird.”

“Yeah, you said that. So you ready to beat up some bad guys?”

“Sure,” Miles answered, shrugging. “I’ve got my suit under my clothes. Wanna hop up on a roof and change?”

Gwen nodded, and after making sure there were no curious lookie-loos, the two scurried up the side of a building. Once they discarded their civilian clothes, they were off, webbing through Gwen’s New York City in search of bad guys to beat up.

Three hours later they returned to the rooftop, having taken care of a bodega robbery, an attempted armored car hijacking, and a drug deal near the docks. Needless to say, they were exhausted.

After changing back into their civvies, they clambered down the side of the building and onto the street.

“You’re really getting good at this,” Gwen told him as they emerged from an alley.

“At what?”

“The whole...super hero thing.”

“Oh. Thanks,” he said back as he grinned. To hear Gwen say it meant a lot to him. “Uh, you too.”

Gwen smiled. “Hungry?”

“Starving,” Miles answered. “Why?”

She smiled. “The Crust is right down the street.”

“Really? The famous ‘Crust Pizza’ I’ve heard so much about? Let’s get some.”

They walked a block until they found Gwen’s favorite restaurant. After ordering two slices of pizza (his with bacon, hers with pepperoni), they carried their food and drinks back up another rooftop to eat.

“Not a bad way to spend a Friday night,” Miles said, taking a big bite of his slice.

Gwen watched him, waiting for his reaction. “Well?” she finally asked after he’d taken a few chews.

“Pretty good,” he said, his mouth full. “A little greasy.”

She smiled, then asked “So what’d you tell your parents you were doing?”

“I told them I was hanging out with a friend.” He shrugged. “Technically, not lying. I didn’t tell them I was going to a different universe.”

“Or beating people up in a Spider-Man costume.”

“Well, yeah, I figure I need to keep  _ some _ things to myself,” he said with a chuckle. Gwen chuckled as well. His grin fading, he asked “Do you ever regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Telling your dad, about...who you are?”

“I didn’t really have a choice,” she admitted. “He was about to shoot me. Why?”

“Just wondering. I’m not even close to telling my parents yet.”

Gwen shrugged. “If I could turn invisible, I probably wouldn’t have told my dad.”

Miles smiled. “If I  _ couldn’t _ turn invisible, my dad would already know.” He shook his head. “And besides, he’d want me to stop, probably. I don’t know how my mom would react. Does your dad ever try and get you to quit?”

Gwen let out a breath. “Sometimes. But like I said, we don’t really talk about it too much. But I’m sure every time he hears about me fighting MODAAK, or Kraven, or  Doctorangutan….”

“Wait wait wait wait,” Miles said, putting up his hand. “You’ve fought someone named... _ Doctor Orangutan? _ ”

“Doctorangutan,” she corrected, knowing that didn’t make it any better. “And shut up,” she added with a smile. “Don’t you have a...Doctor Octopus?”

“So do you!” he said.

“So an octopus is more dignified than an orangutan?” she asked, wondering  _ why am I trying to defend that idiot? _

“Well, yeah. What does this big monkey…”

“Ape.”

“What?”

“An orangutan is an ape.”

“Wait...he’s an  _ actual _ orangutan?”

Gwen felt herself blush. “Yeah…”

Miles covered his mouth as he snickered, causing Gwen to say “He’s really smart!”

“Yeah, I bet. What’s his doctorate in, bananas?”

Gwen couldn’t help herself, and let out a snicker.

Calming himself, Miles asked “Who else have you fought?”

She folded her arms. “I don’t want to tell you now.”

“Come on, I’ll tell you my bad guys.”

She raised an eyebrow, waiting.

“Well...You already know Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus,” he said, giving her a look. “Kingpin. Um….there’s Hammerhead.”

She frowned. “Is he a big shark?”

“No.”

“Does he have a hammer on his head?”

“No, he just...his head is, like...hard.”

“O- _ kay _ .”

“Who else do you have, who’re some of your bad guys?” Miles asked.

Sighing, Gwen said “Rhino, Kraven the Hunter, Koala Kommander…”

“Did you say Koala Kommander?” Miles asked, grinning.

Gwen rolled her eyes. “ _ Yes _ .”

Miles started laughing again. “Is he a giant koala?”

“No, he’s…” she waved her hand dismissively. “He’s just some guy in a suit.”

“But koala’s aren’t even, like, intimidating or anything.”

“Tell  _ him _ that.”

He laughed again, which got Gwen to finally crack a smile.  _ I love his laugh _ , she thought to herself.

“You have some weird bad guys,” he said after a moment.

“So do you,” she countered.

“Let’s just call it a tie, then,” he said.

She grinned, and gathered her trash. “Done?”

“Yeah,” he answered, scooping up his garbage as well.

Trash in hand, they webbed off the rooftop and onto the street where they threw away their trash.

“So next time I’m here,” Miles said, “You’ve got to show me this Orangutan guy.”

“I don’t know where he is,” she responded.

“I hear they keep apes in the zoo.”

Gwen shook her head.

“Hey, where’s your house?”

“Um...why?”

“Well, you’ve seen my dorm room and my parent’s house.” He shrugged. “It’s only fair I see where you live.”

So a change of clothes and some web swinging later, the two ended up climbing through Gwen’s bedroom window in Earth-65’s version of Forest Hills.

“Nice room,” Miles said as he pulled his mask off, climbing in behind Gwen. 

“Thanks,” she responded, pulling off her mask as well. “Notice it doesn’t stink like yours.”

“My dorm smells fine,” he said. “We did the laundry.”

“So what is that, once in four months?” she joked.

Miles looked around, seeing the band posters, drum set, messy desk and bed. “I think my room’s bigger.”

Gwen smirked. “Right.”

“You play your drums in here?”

“Sometimes. Usually when my dad’s not here.”

“Is he here now?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

Miles picked up one of her drumsticks. “Let’s hear you play, Ringo.”

“Who’s Ringo?”

“Seriously? One of the Crickets?”

“Who?”

“They were a British group from, like, the sixties or something. George, Paul, Ringo, John?”

Gwen shook her head. “No idea.”

“Fine, then let  _ me _ play your drums.”

“Uh, no,” she said, sending out a webline and grabbing the stick from his hand. “No one touches my drums.”

“Aw,” he moaned before sending his own webline out, trying to grab the stick. She dodged, instead grabbing his web and pulling it in an attempt to make him fall. But, of course, instead he tumbled into her.

“This again?” he asked. He’d braced himself, putting his hands on her shoulders to stop from colliding with her. As he pulled back, the two were, once again, nearly face to face.

“Stop trying to web me,” Gwen said as she looked up, her nose nearly colliding with Miles’. They stared at each other for a second, Miles smiling as Gwen shyly looked away. “What?” she asked.

“Nothing. I, uh...forgot you had freckles.”

“Oh.” She chuckled. “I hate them, actually.”

Miles grinned. “No, they’re, uh...kind of cute.”

That got Gwen to blush slightly, as she looked away, pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “Thanks,” she said quietly.

Miles still hadn’t moved his hands, and once again he thought about attempting a kiss, when all of a sudden he felt a buzzing go off in the back of his head. “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Gwen asked before she felt it, too.

There was a knock at the door, followed by “Gwen? You in there?”

“My dad!” she whispered.

Miles went to move away from her, but his sticky fingers got caught in a familiar place. “Uh-oh,” he repeated.

“Are you  _ serious _ ?” Gwen asked as she felt a light tugging in her hair. Then, louder, she said “Yeah, dad, just give me a….”

Two things happened next: the door opened, and Miles suddenly vanished (though Gwen’s hair was still stuck to his fingers).

“Jeez, dad, I said I needed a minute,” she said. She could feel an invisible Miles next to her, but was trying to ignore his presence.

“Were you talking to someone?” Captain Stacy asked, entering the room.

“No.” Her dad walked closer, coming a few steps in front of her.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, dad, I’m fine,” she responded.

“You didn’t get...hurt or anything?”

“No.”

He glanced over her shoulder, and for a second she thought he’d spotted Miles. Instead, he huffed and said “You’ve gotta start closing the windows, Gwen. Unless you want the whole neighborhood to know about Spider-Woman.” As he moved past her to close it, she moved, causing Miles to move as well, which made him unintentionally pull on her hair.

“ _ Ow _ !” she hissed. “ _ Stop pulling _ ,” she whispered.

“Stop  _ moving _ ,” Miles whispered back.

Her dad closed the window and looked back at his daughter. “You say something?”

“No, dad. Just...thinking about something.” He looked at her quizzically, raising an eyebrow. “What?” she asked.

“What’s with your hair?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s sticking up,” he said, pointing.

Sure enough, from the way Miles’ hand was angled, one side of her hair almost looked like it was pointing out.

“Um...hair gel,” she said. “I was...trying something out.”

Captain Stacy nodded. “Well...I’m going to sleep.”

“Me too. Night, dad.”

“Night, kiddo.”

He left the room, and Miles suddenly reappeared, his hands still tangled in Gwen’s hair.

“I keep forgetting about your invisibility trick,” Gwen commented. “Now will you  _ please get your hand out of my hair? _ ”

“I’m trying,” Miles said, “It’s not working.”

“Just relax.”

“I  _ am _ , but...what if…”

“I swear, if you yank out another patch of my hair I will toss you into a universe with  _ spider-eating monsters _ ,” she threatened.

“Okay, jeez, never mind.” He closed his eyes. “Let me just…” And suddenly, her hair fell from his hand. “Sorry.”

Gwen took a step back. “Okay, that’s the  _ last _ time you do that.”

“Hopefully.” It was silent a moment as Gwen fixed her hair. “Your dad seems nice,” Miles finally said.

“He is.”

Miles nodded. “Well...I guess I should get going.”

“Oh,” Gwen said, taking her hand out from her hair. “Right. It’s late.”

“Yeah. And I don’t want my dad up waiting for me.”

Gwen nodded her head. “I’ll text you or something.”

“Sure. Maybe we can web up next weekend.”

They both smiled, not sure how to end this encounter. Finally, Miles remembered something. Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Here.”

Gwen took it, not sure what it was. When she opened it, she smiled. It was one of Miles’s drawings, this one of her as she webbed through the sky. “You made this for me?”

“Yeah,” he said. “I remembered you said you liked my drawings, so...it’s yours.”

“Thank you,” she said, before moving closer and giving him a hug. As he hugged her back, she said “Don’t touch my hair.”

Miles laughed. “Right.”

The hug lasted a little longer than Gwen had expected, but she wasn’t complaining. It felt nice to have Miles hold her like this, as a matter of fact…

She kind of wanted to kiss him.

She considered it, or at least his cheek, but when he pulled away she knew the moment was lost.

“See you around, Spider-Girl,” Miles said as he turned on his goober. A second later he stepped through the portal, taking him back to Earth 1610.

Gwen smiled as the portal closed behind him, and thought about where she’d put the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay on this one. I had the WORST case of writer's block. I had half of this chapter written a week ago, but I hated it, changed it, hated *that*, took a break, changed it again...now I'm mostly happy with this chapter. Originally he was going to meet her bandmates, but I've moved that to the next chapter. The next one should be up in about two weeks. Things will get a little semi-serious between the two teens.  
> Stay tuned...


	9. Questions

Miles sat in his dorm room, putting the finishing touches on his English Lit homework. It was almost Friday, which was good. It meant more sleep, more time to web around New York, and less homework.

Speaking of which…

This assignment was actually due yesterday, and he would’ve gotten it done, too, if he hadn’t been stuck in Earth-65. Well,  _ stuck _ wasn’t the right word. More like... _ attacked _ ? He’d gone to help Gwen fight her Earth’s version of Doctor Octopus, and it had taken longer than expected. By the time he returned home it was past midnight, and he’d barely had enough energy to crawl into bed, let alone write a paper for school.

Gwen had offered to let him crash on her floor, but he turned it down, knowing he had to get home. But now it was Thursday, or “Friday Eve,” as his dad sometimes called it, and all he had to do was wrap up this paper, head to bed, survive tomorrow, and he had the whole weekend to do what he wanted.

As he began typing the last paragraph on his essay, something Ganke had left on the desk caught his attention; a flier for the school’s upcoming dance. Miles didn’t really do dances but Ganke, who was smitten with a girl in his Lit class, was determined to take her to the event next weekend. Again, Miles didn’t really do dances, but a part of him wanted to ask a girl he knew from another universe to go with him. He’d almost brought it up when they’d seen each other a few days ago, but had decided against it. Miles had recently thought about making his feelings clearer to Gwen, but unfortunately having spider-powers didn’t come with super-confidence about things like asking a girl to a dance.

The door suddenly opened and Miles’ roommate, Ganke, came rushing in, a smile on his face as he ran over to Miles.

“Dude!” he said, catching his breath, “I got a date!”

“You what?”

“I got..a... _ date _ ,” he repeated.

Miles asked “With Katie?” When Ganke nodded, he said “Congrats, man. Did you do the shoulder touch?”

“No,” Ganke answered, shaking his head. “We just talked. I saw her a few minutes ago in the common room, and we just talked about classes and what we like to do on the weekends and music and stuff.” Ganke sat on the bottom bunk. “And I asked her about the dance, and said I was thinking about going, and she said she was thinking about it too, and then I just...I just  _ asked _ her.”

“That’s awesome, man,” Miles said, clapping him on the back. “I’m happy for you.”

His breath finally restored, Ganke fell onto his back on his bed. “Now I just need to learn how to dance.”

Turning back to his laptop, Miles shrugged and said “It isn’t that hard.”

“You should bring Gwen,” Ganke said, sitting up.

“What?”

“You should ask Gwen if she wants to go to the dance. You’re seeing her Saturday, right? We could double!”

“No, no,” Miles said, shaking his head. “I’m not...I don’t do dances.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I don’t like going to school dances. And I don’t think Gwen likes them, either.”

Ganke shrugged. “If you say so. Have you thought about asking her?”

_ Yes _ , Miles thought, but said “Not really.”

 

That night as he tried to sleep, Miles had his phone in his hand, debating whether or not to text Gwen. He knew she was probably still up, finishing homework of her own. He went back and forth for a minute before deciding to set his phone down. Before he could, though, it buzzed in his hand, letting him know he had an incoming phone call from (who else?) Gwen.

Pressing accept, he answered “Hey, Gwen.”

“Hey Miles. Were you asleep?”

“No. Not yet, anyway. What’s up?”

“I’m stuck on this math question; could you help me out?”

“Sure.” Over the next five minutes, Gwen read him the problem and though it took Miles a few minutes, the two were able to figure it out.

“Thanks,” she said after she got the answer. “I owe you one.”

“Buy me a slice of pizza next time I’m in your universe,” he suggested.

“You’ve got it, Spider-Man,” she said. “So what’s going on?”

“Nothing,” he answered. “I got that paper done. My roommate’s got a date to this dance.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, there’s this girl he likes and he’s been wanting to ask her, and he finally got around to it.”

“That’s kind of sweet.”

“I guess.” For a moment, he thought about asking her; right then, right there. But once again, he decided not to. “So, um...are we still hanging out on Saturday?”

“Yeah. I’ll get you that pizza.”

He smiled. “Cool. See you then, Spider-Girl.”

She sighed, then said “It’s Spider- _ Woman _ .”

“Oh, really? Because I thought it was Gwanda.”

Another sigh from Gwen, before she said “One day that’s not going to be funny anymore.”

“Yeah, you let me know when that happens.”

“Bye, Miles.”

“Bye, Gwen.”

 

As she disconnected, Gwen shook her head at the ‘Gwanda’ nickname.  _ He’s never going to let that go _ , she thought. Still, if she was a hundred percent honest with herself, she did kind of like it when he called her that.

She thought about the dance Miles had mentioned, and a part of her was somewhat let down that he hadn’t asked if she wanted to go to it. She wasn’t the biggest school dance enthusiast, but it might’ve been nice to go with Miles. She bet he looked good in a suit.

_ Stop _ , she told herself.  _ You aren’t dating _ . _ Miles is just...a friend _ .

Still, she did have that sudden urge to kiss him a week ago. And it had felt nice to have him hug her. Their meet-ups were quickly becoming the highlights of her week, and she’d long since admitted she had a  _ little _ bit of a crush on him. But she didn’t think he felt the same; and besides, even if he did it wouldn’t work, would it? They lived in two different universes.

Closing her math book, she decided to turn in for the night.

 

On Saturday, after making an excuse to his parents, Miles goobered himself into Gwen’s universe. He met her at their predetermined spot, a rooftop a few blocks away from The Crust, Gwen’s favorite pizza place.

“Took you long enough,” Gwen joked as the portal closed behind him.

“Traffic was bad,” he said, grinning at her.

Gwen chuckled, smiling as she looked down; it was good to see him again. Miles took a seat next to her on the rooftop, both of their legs hanging over the edge. “What’d you tell your parents this time?” she asked.

“Uhhh….that I was going to see a friend.”

“Technically not lying,” she said.

“I thought so.” They were quiet for a moment before he asked, “So webbing or pizza first?”

Gwen smirked. “You know, I got that question wrong.”

“What question?”

“The math question I called you about.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“Oh.” He shrugged. “Sorry.”

“So, technically, I think that gets me out of the whole pizza thing.”

“No,” Miles argued. “I didn’t know it was wrong.”

“Still…”

“Well, how wrong was it? Because if I got you  _ close _ then I think that should count for something.”

She gave him a look. “Are you serious? Wrong is wrong.”

“But you never said it had to be right. I was helping you out of the kindness of my heart.”

She smiled, shaking her head as she looked out at the city before them. “Fine.”

He pumped his fist, happy to have won the debate.

As they stood, she said “You know it’s only a dollar for a slice. You literally just argued your way into not spending one dollar.”

“Still got it,” he commented as they put on their masks.

 

A hop off the roof and a change of clothes later, the two entered The Crust and ordered two slices to go. While they waited, Gwen told Miles about an upcoming performance her band had. Miles listened, but after a moment his mind started to wander as he watched Gwen.

He began to think about how much he just liked being with her. She was, for all intents and purposes, his best friend. She was smart, funny, and talented. Obviously, he thought she was cute. Maybe he could ask her to the dance-they could go as friends, and see how things went from there. He could at least  _ try _ .

“Hey…” he began.

Another voice cut him off before he could finish, though. “Gwen? Is that you?” came a voice from behind her.

He saw a look of  _ oh no _ cross Gwen’s face as she squeezed her eye shut before turning around and seeing who was saying her name. Miles followed her gaze, and saw three girls, about their age, approaching the table.

“Hey, guys,” Gwen said to the girls. “What’re you doing here?”

“Getting pizza,” one of them, a redhead, answered. Glancing at Miles then Gwen, she asked “What are  _ you _ doing here?”

“Same,” Gwen answered. 

The redhead glanced again at Miles. “Hi, I’m Em Jay.”

“Hi,” he said back. “I’m…” He paused, wondering:  _ should I say my real name? _ “Mi..ike?”

“Oh my gosh,” Gwen muttered under her breath. “This is not happening.”

“Hi, Mike,” Em Jay said. “It’s, nice to meet you.”

“He’s Miles, actually,” Gwen said, giving him a look. “He’s just playing around.”

“Oh. Oh!” Em Jay said, as if she recognized something. “Are you  _ the _ Miles? The one that Gwen’s always texting?”

Miles glanced at Gwen, whose cheeks were starting to turn red, before he answered. “Um...I guess so?”

“Oh. My. Gosh,” Em Jay said, grinning from ear to ear. Whispering, she asked, “Are you two on a date right now?”

“ _ No _ ,” Gwen answered. “We’re just friends, Em Jay, I’ve told you a thousand times.”

“Oh,” Em Jay said, nodding. Motioning to the two girls behind her, she said “This is Betty and Glory.”

Miles waved to the other girls. “Hey guys.”

“Can we wait with you?” Glory asked.

“Um…” Gwen began. “Actually…”

“Thanks,” Em Jay said, taking a seat with the other two girls falling suit. Miles thought he saw Gwen roll her eyes.

“So how’d you two meet?” Em Jay asked him. “Gwen never told us.”

“We, uh,” Miles began, casting a glance at Gwen, “We met at school.”

Glory frowned, tilting her head. “I’ve never seen you at school before.”

“No! I go to a, uh... _ different _ school.”

“What school?”

“Visions Academy?”

The girls shook their heads, with Em Jay saying, “Never heard of it.”

“It’s a private school.” When the girls still looked confused, Miles said “It’s, like...really private.”

“Oh dear Lord,” Gwen muttered under her breath.

“Why were you at his school?” Glory asked Gwen.

“I was...visiting a friend,” she answered.

“Who?” asked Betty.

“Uh….”  _ This is the downside of not having friends _ , Gwen thought as she racked her brain for an answer.  _ No one to blame this on _ .

Seeing her stuck, Miles said “It was Peni; right, Gwen?”

“Yes,” she said. “Peni.”

“Who’s Peni?” Em Jay asked.

“She’s my, um...cousin. Second cousin,” Gwen said, as if that cleared things up. The other girls seemed to accept it, though, shrugging.

“She bumped into me in the hallway,” Miles added.

“ _ Awwwww _ ,” the girls said.

“We’re _just_ _friends_ ,” Gwen told her bandmates. 

Seemingly ignoring her, Em Jay said “You should come to one of our shows sometime, Miles.”

“I have,” he responded. “I was at the one at, uh…” He looked to Gwen for help.

“Sullivan’s,” she supplied.

“Yeah. There. You guys were really good.”

“You saw us perform,” Betty said, looking at Gwen, “And Gwen didn’t introduce us? Gwen, how rude of you,” she teased.

“It was a last minute thing,” Gwen said.

Glory, who was sitting next to Miles, leaned a little closer to him. “Wow,” she said, touching his arm, “You’re strong. Do you work out?”

Miles blushed a little before responding, “Um, kind of.”

Across from him, Gwen felt a sudden anger build up towards her bandmate.  _ Is she flirting with Miles? _ she thought. Then- _ Wait. Am I jealous? _

“I work out too!” Glory said, which Gwen knew was a total lie. “We should work out together sometime.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Miles said.

_ Yep. I’m jealous _ , Gwen thought, feeling her hands ball into fists under the table.

“How much do you lift?” Glory asked.

“Um...guys, I think our pizza’s ready,” Em Jay said to Betty and Glory. She began to get up, as did Betty. Glory reluctantly started to, as well.

“See you at practice?” Em Jay asked Gwen.

Under the table, Gwen’s fists unclenched. “Yes,” she responded.

Em Jay nodded, and turned to leave.

“Bye, Miles,” Glory said, following behind her.

“Bye,” Miles said back. Turning back to Gwen, he said “They’re nice.”

“Yeah, they’re okay,” she said back, watching the three girls wait at the counter for their food. Turning back to Miles, she said “Mike? Really?”

“I thought you said we shouldn’t use our real names in other universes?”

“I never said that,” she said, shaking her head.

“Really? Gwanda?”

“That was a...judgement call.”

“Yeah, well, so was Mike. And at least it’s a real name.”

Gwen grinned as their order came up. “You got me there.”

 

After eating, the two teens spent a few hours webbing around Earth-65, stopping the few crimes they came across. When they decided to call it a night, the sun was beginning to set in the sky.

Landing on the roof they’d met at hours ago, Miles took his mask off and looked to the sky. “It’s nice here,” he commented.

“Yeah,” Gwen agreed as she took off her own mask.

They enjoyed the sunset for a minute, before Miles took his goober from his pocket. “Well…”

Gwen nodded, seeing the goober. “Right. See you around,  _ Mike _ .”

He smiled. “Later,  _ Gwanda _ .” He pressed the button, opening the portal that would take him home, but paused. 

“Miles?” Gwen asked.

Turning around, he switched off the portal. “Can I ask you something?”

“Um...okay.”

“So there’s this uh, dance coming up at my school, next Saturday.”

Gwen, seeing where this was going, felt her heart beat faster; out of nervousness or excitement, she wasn’t sure of yet. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, and, uh...would you...um, do you….I thought maybe we could go...together? Not like a, uh, a  _ date _ or anything, it could be just, like, friendly and stuff, y’know?”

“Oh.” Gwen was speechless;  _ is this real? Is he asking me out? _

“You don’t have to,” Miles said, feeling embarrassed and looking down. “I mean, it’s probably gonna be…”

“Yes.”

“Wait….what?” he asked, looking up.

Gwen, her cheeks slightly pink, said “Sure. I mean...it’s not like I’ll be doing anything else, really,” she said, trying to downplay it. “So, um...yes,” she concluded, shyly looking down.

Miles felt himself begin to grin so wide his face might split in half. “Alright,” he said, telling himself  _ stay cool! Stay cool! _ “Um...I’ll text you about it tomorrow?”

“Okay,” Gwen said, looking back up again.

“It’s, um...it’s next Saturday.”

“Yeah, you told me that.”

“Oh. Right. Then, um, I guess it’s a date, then.” He paused, having said “date” and afraid of her reaction.

Gwen, though, nodded her head. “See you soon, Miles.”

“Yeah,” he said, turning on the goober. “See you soon.”

She smiled, cheeks still blushing, and put her mask on as she webbed off the rooftop.

Miles, meanwhile, stepped through the portal and back into his dorm room. Once the portal closed behind him, he raised his fists in victory. “ _ Yes! _ ”

Ganke, sitting at his desk, took his headphones off as Miles lowered his arms. “What’s with you?”

“Gwen,” he said, “I asked her to the dance.”

Ganke grinned. “I knew you liked her.”

“We’re going as friends,” Miles clarified. Which was true, technically, but  _ he _ thought of it as a date. Climbing up onto his bunk, he put his hands behind his hand and smiled. Things couldn’t get any better than this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this and the next chapter (which should be up next week) were going to be one longer chapter, but it felt right to end this one here. As a result, this series is now going to be *12* chapters (I really need to stop adding more). I love comments if you're willing to leave them. See you soon.


	10. Leap of Faith, Part One

As she swung home, Gwen couldn’t help but feel...excited? Giddy? Anxious? She wasn’t sure. She kept asking herself  _ Is this real? Is this a thing? _

Yes, she told herself as she got home. It was real. She had a date with Miles. After all of the second guessing, and the debate over whether she had a crush or not, she and Miles would be going on a date next week.

_ Though was it technically a date? _ He had said it’d be friendly. Still, it was something other than their usual activities of beating up bad guys and running on rooftops. They’d be dressing up, and dancing, and who knew what else.

A dress! She made a mental note that she needed to find one. Gwen knew how to dance; when she was younger she’d taken ballet classes.

Eventually arriving at her bedroom window, she crawled inside, shutting it behind her. She lay on her bed, and began thinking about where things could possibly go with this dance: they start dating, they become a couple, they spend even more time together.

She smiled, thinking about it.  _ Gosh _ , she thought in a self deprecating way,  _ You can’t doubt this crush anymore, can you? _

But then her mind began to wander towards the negative side of things-what if the dance was a disaster? What if boyfriend Miles ( _ was she really calling him that already? _ ) was a complete 180 from best friend Miles? What if things just flat out went wrong?

What if their friendship ended?

That was something she didn’t want to consider. Even if this date was just two friends hanging out-and she had to remind herself, technically that’s what it was-she definitely didn’t want to lose Miles as a friend. He’d become her confidante, and her go-to person for things. She needed someone to talk to about this, but again the lack of any friends popped into her head, hindering her.

“There has to be  _ somebody _ ,” she told herself. She didn’t want to talk to Peter (Earth 616’s) about this. Definitely not Ham or Noir. Peni, maybe?

She didn’t really want to; she was afraid Peni would make fun of her. But with the way that doubts were starting to build in her head, she needed some kind of outlet.

She wondered if Miles was having these nagging thoughts, too.

 

Miles was currently listening to music, his headphones playing louder than they probably should be as he drew at his parent’s house. He’d goobered himself back to his dorm room so he could change clothes, then had made the walk back to his folk’s home. Usually he would’ve swung home, but after his talk with Gwen he was on cloud nine.

A dance. With Gwen.

Spinning around in his chair, he turned to his bed where he looked for the correct colors. He was in the middle of what he was hoping would be an epic sketch. It was a drawing of Gwen, sitting on the roof on Earth 65 as the sun set before her. He figured he’d give it to her the next time they saw each other. A big part of him was still in disbelief that it was actually happening, that he and Gwen would be going on a date (okay, it wasn’t really one) next weekend.

He heard steps outside of his door, and a second later there was a soft knock. “Miles? You in there?”

“Yeah,” he answered, lowering the volume on his headphones. As the door opened, Miles switched his Gwen picture for another, since Gwen’s picture included her in her Spider-Woman costume.

“Hey,” his dad said, coming in. “What’re you drawing today?”

Miles shrugged. “Nothing really. What’s up?”

“Your mom and I are ordering Chinese, want anything?”

Miles nodded, and gave his dad his order. Before his dad left, though, Miles called him back, saying “Hey, um...I need a suit.”

Jefferson raised an eyebrow. “You need a suit? For what?”

“There’s this dance next weekend, and I, um...I need a suit.”

Miles’s dad smiled and sat on his bed. “Yeah? Good for you, son.” He smacked Miles’ leg. “You got a date?”

“Yeah, um,” Mile scratched nervously behind his ear. “You remember that girl from school? Gwen?”

Jefferson smiled. “Yeah, I remember her. The girl you said was ‘just a friend’.”

“Well, yeah. We are, but...we’re going to the dance together. It’s no big deal.”

Jefferson nodded his head. “Alright. You want to go tomorrow? There’s a couple places where we can get you something for a pretty decent price.”

“Okay,” Miles answered. “Thanks, dad.”

Jefferson clapped him on the back as he stood up. “Don’t mention it.”

When his dad left, Miles swapped his pictures, putting the Gwen drawing in front of him. Turning his headphones back on, he got back to work.

 

Twenty-four hours later, Miles was back in his dorm room, getting ready for the upcoming school week. He and his dad had spent the bulk of the day looking at suits until finally finding one Miles liked (and he thought Gwen might like). The suit now hung in his closet at home, hibernating until it’s use on Saturday.

Miles had been back for almost an hour when his dorm door opened and Ganke came in, looking flustered.

“What’s with you?” Miles asked his roommate.

Tossing his backpack onto his bed, Ganke answered with “Katie’s expecting to go out to dinner before the dance. Is that, like, a thing?”

Miles shrugged. “Yeah, man. You didn’t know?” ( _ to be honest, Miles had only found that out a few hours ago after his dad had asked where he and Gwen were going to eat _ ).

“No, I didn’t.” Ganke sat on his bunk and sighed. “I wonder if my mom’ll lend me some money. I mean, I have  _ some _ money, but I want to take Katie somewhere nice, you know?”

“Yeah. Do you still want to double?”

Now Ganke shrugged. “It’s up to you. What did your parents say?”

“They were happy. They want me to bring her over before the dance.”

Ganke sat up, realizing something. “How’re you guys going to do it?”

“Uh...do what?”

“How are you and Gwen going to meet? I mean, she can’t really just teleport into your living room and meet your parents, can she?”

“I guess not,” Miles said, reaching for his phone. He sent a quick text to Gwen, asking her to call him.

“What’s she telling her parents?”

“No clue,” Miles answered. “She’s only got her dad, though.”

“Oh. Have you met him?”

“Uh, kind of,” Miles said, recalling the whole incident in Gwen’s bedroom.

The talk between the two boys eventually died down, and when Ganke went to go shower before bed, Miles checked his phone. Sure enough, Gwen had texted him back, saying she couldn’t talk, but would get back to him soon. Miles texted back an  _ ok _ and then decided he should probably get ready for bed, too.

 

She didn’t get back to him until Wednesday. When Miles took out his phone after his last class, there was a text waiting on his phone, saying  _ roof across from your school. Four o’clock _ .

He dumped his backpack and books in his room, then webbed across the street. He’d been there for a minute when there was a flash of light, and then Gwen walked through her portal.

“Hey,” she said, smiling.

“Hey.”

Folding her arms, she asked “Sorry about the other day. I had a late band practice, so…”

Miles waved it off. “Don’t worry about it. Everything okay?”

Gwen nodded. “Yeah.”

Miles felt like something was bothering her, but didn’t press it. He turned and sat on the ledge, letting his legs dangle. Gwen took a seat next to him. Miles couldn’t help but notice that she sat a little closer than usual.

“So what’d you need?” she asked.

“What?”

“Your text?”

“Oh! Uh...on Saturday, where do you want to meet?”

Gwen shrugged. “I don’t know. Outside of the school?” Looking around her, she offered “What about here?”

Miles rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “My mom and dad, they, um...they want some pictures or something. They want us to, uh...come by.”

“Oh,” Gwen said, her eyes going wide. “Uh….okay?”

“We don’t have to, I mean...it’s just…”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, looking down below them.

It was quiet for a minute before Miles asked “You sure you’re okay?”

Gwen nodded. “What’ve you been up to?”

“Just school, mostly. Oh, and trying to teach my roommate to dance.”

Gwen chuckled. “ _ You _ are teaching someone to dance?”

“Why do you say it like that?”

“I don’t know,” she said, grinning, “It’s just you’re not the most coordinated guy.”

“What do you mean I’m not coordinated. I’m  _ definitely _ coordinated.”

“ _ Peter _ ’s more coordinated than you. Heck, even Ham is.”

Miles stood up, and reached into his pocket.

“What’re you doing?” Gwen asked, looking up at him with a smile.

“I’m gonna show you how coordinated I am.” He pressed a button on his phone, and a song started to play. Miles started to step to it, singing to the song as well:

_ Needless to say, I keep her in check _

_ She was all bad-bad, nevertheless _

He looked at Gwen, to see if she was impressed, but she was holding back a laugh. Miles stopped. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said. “But if this is you trying to show you can dance, it’s not really working.”

“And I guess  _ you _ can do better?”

“I never said that,” Gwen said, standing. “But if that’s how you dance, then we might have a problem on Saturday.”

Miles folded his arms. “Then let’s see what you can do, Gwanda.”

“So juvenile,” she commented. “I’d rather not.”

“Why?”

She shrugged. “You’ll see on Saturday.”

He smiled, nodding his head as he turned off the music. “Alright.” Fidgeting with his phone for a second, he said “Thanks for going with me, by the way.”

“Thanks for inviting me,” she said back, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

_ Maybe we can do something like this again _ , Miles thought but didn’t say. Instead, he looked out at the city. “You wanna go web some people up?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head as she prepared her goober. “I’ve got to get home. I’ll text you later.”

“Alright. See you, Gwen.”

She grinned at him as the portal opened. “See you around, Spider-Boy.” With that, she stepped back into her universe.

Miles watched it close behind her.  _ Definitely gotta work on my dance moves _ , he thought as he webbed back to his dorm.

 

Gwen, meanwhile, stepped into her bedroom, taking her mask off as the portal closed. She fell onto her bed, letting out a sigh as she did.  _ What is wrong with me? _ She wondered.

She liked Miles; she liked him a lot, actually. He  _ was _ funny and he  _ was _ cute and he was, hands down, her best friend. She liked being with him and seeing him was starting to become what she looked forward to the most in the week. And today, again, part of her had wanted to kiss him when they said goodbye.

_ So why do I keep worrying? _

She knew it was because she was so afraid of losing a good thing. She had a hard time letting people in, she knew that. As much as she liked Miles, she didn’t want things to possibly get ruined if things went badly at this dance.

Gwen was still wishing she had someone to talk to about this, someone who had experience with boys and dating, but…

_ Crap. _

Reluctantly, she picked up her cell phone and sent a text message. A minute later her phone chirped, letting her know the person she’d texted-Em Jay-had texted her back.

Gwen typed  _ can u come over tomorrow? Need help. _

There was a pause, and then Em Jay responded with  _ sure! When? _

Sighing, Gwen texted back a response.

 

After school the next day, Miles put the finishing touches on the drawing he’d made for Gwen. He had meant to give it to her yesterday, but doing last minute school work had become a priority. Satisfied with what he had, he turned on his goober and teleported himself into Gwen’s universe.

He was suddenly standing outside of her house, and seeing her bedroom window open, figured he’d go and see if she was home. His spider-sense letting him know no one was around, he scaled the side of the house and peeked in her window-no one there.

He’d really wanted to give her the drawing in person, but thought it might be nice to surprise her, too. So he climbed in her window, thinking maybe it’d be cool to web it to something. As he searched for an ideal place to put it, he heard a door slam, then heard Gwen (and someone else’s voice) coming inside the house. He debated whether to switch on his goober or jump out the window, but didn’t have enough time. Before he knew it, Gwen and whoever’s voice were right outside the bedroom door, so he did the next best thing: he turned invisible.

He stood in one of the corners of her room as Gwen entered, followed by one of her bandmates;  _ Em Jay _ , he recalled, seeing the red hair. Gwen was holding a long bag over her shoulder, and she placed it on her desk as Em Jay sat on the bed.

“So  _ now _ will you tell me what the dress is for?” Em Jay asked.

Miles smiled; she’d gotten her dress. He wondered what it looked like.

Gwen took a breath before she continued. “I’m going to a dance. With Miles.”

Em Jay squealed. “I  _ knew _ it! I knew you liked him.”

Gwen nodded. “That’s the thing, though. I  _ do _ like him. I like him a lot.”

Miles held back a gasp;  _ she liked him? _

“I knew it,” Em Jay repeated. “You owe me, by the way.”

“Owe you for what?”

“Glory. I saw she was hitting on Miles, and I got her out of there.”

“I thought your pizza was ready.”

Em Jay smiled, shaking her head. “No. I was doing you a favor.”

“Oh. Well...thanks, I guess.”

_ Glory was flirting with me?  _ Miles thought.  _ Huh. _

“So? What’s the problem?” asked Em Jay.

“I mean...we’re  _ friends _ . He’s probably the best friend I have. And what if, you know, things don’t work out? What if he doesn’t want to be friends anymore? What if…”

“It’s just a dance,” Em Jay said with a laugh. “It’s not like he asked you to marry him. He didn’t, did he?”

“Uh, no. It’s just a dance.”

“Then what’re you so worried about?”

Miles frowned.  _ She’s worried? _

“I’m...I’m  _ scared _ ,” Gwen admitted. “Miles and I, we have such a good thing; I  _ want _ to go to this dance with him. I want to, you know...maybe  _ date _ him. But I’m scared to mess up what we already have.”

Em Jay nodded in understanding. “It’s a leap of faith, Gwen. You’re not going to know until you actually, you know, go for it.”

Miles felt bad; both on the fact that he was eavesdropping what was supposed to be a private moment but also because he hadn’t known Gwen was feeling this way.  _ Why hadn’t she said anything? Why hadn’t she talked to him? _

In the process of thinking, Miles moved slightly, causing two things to happen: he bumped into Gwen’s nightstand, and he momentarily became visible.

When the nightstand moved, Gwen looked over in his direction. Miles didn’t know if she’d seen him or not, but the way her eyes suddenly narrowed wasn’t a good sign.

He watched as she turned back to Em Jay. “Thanks,” she told her friend. “That’s all I needed to talk about.”

Em Jay looked disappointed, probably wanting more details. “Oh. Okay. You sure?”

Gwen glanced once more in Miles’s direction, then nodded. “Yeah. Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

“Okay,” Em Jay said, standing. The two girls left the room, and once Miles heard them going down the stairs, he immediately turned on his goober and got out of there.

He missed it when, a few minutes later, Gwen came back into the room. “Miles?” she asked. When there was no response, she began to look for her goober.

 

_ Did she see me? Did she see me? _ Miles wondered as he sat in his dorm. He took out his phone, wondering if she was going to text him, when suddenly there was a flash of light as Gwen stepped through her portal, arms crossed and a look on her face that Miles didn’t like.

_ Play dumb? _ He wondered. “Uh...hey, Gwen.”

“You were in my room, weren’t you?” she asked.

“I don’t...I...what?”

“I  _ know _ you were in my room, Miles. Were you trying to  _ spy _ on me?”

“No! I was...I was there to give you something, and then you showed up, and…”

She unfolded her arms, but still had the look on her face. “How long were you there?”

Miles still didn’t know whether to play dumb or not. “Um...not that long.”

His face must’ve given him away, though, because a moment later she had a hurt look on her own face.

“I didn’t hear that much!” he said. “I…”

Gwen rubbed her face; whether in frustration, embarrassment, or disappointment, Miles wasn’t sure. “Why’d you lie?” she asked.

Miles shrugged. “I...I don’t know.”

Gwen shook her head, and looked away. “Go to the dance by yourself,” she said quietly.

Miles began to protest, but a second later there was another flash of light before Gwen was gone.

Miles put his head in his hands. Things couldn’t get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry...


	11. A Leap of Faith, Part Two

When Ganke returned to the dorm room, he was surprised to see Miles lying face down on his bunk, making a sound that resembled a dying whale. “What’s wrong?” he asked, closing the door.

Miles responded, but with his face muffled by his pillow, Ganke could only guess what his roommate said. “Jim says he doesn’t want to wear pants?” he asked.

Miles turned his head. “Gwen says she doesn’t want to go to the dance.”

“Oh,” Ganke responded. Then, to himself, said “That makes more sense.” Taking a seat at his desk, he asked Miles to explain what happened. He did, and when he’d finished, Ganke asked “Have you tried calling or texting her?”

“I  _ did _ ,” Miles said. “But she isn’t getting back to me. I’ve called her, like, five times already in the past twenty minutes, and texted her at least a dozen. Still nothing.”

Ganke frowned. “I’m sorry, man. Is there anything I can do?”

Miles sighed. “No. This is my fault, I’ve got to fix it. I just don’t know how.”

Besides wallowing in self-pity, there was another thing Miles kept thinking about: Gwen saying she liked him. Now he was afraid that any chance he may have had with her was ruined.

 

In Earth-65, Gwen sat on her bed, wondering if she’d made the right choice. Needless to say, she was  _ pissed _ that not only had Miles been spying on her, but that he’d lied  _ and _ heard how she felt about him. She knew she would’ve eventually told him how she felt (key word being  _ eventually _ ) but she was now both embarrassed and mad at what’d happened. Even worse, she didn’t know how she and Miles would get past this. All this time she’d been doubting their relationship could survive dating; she never thought it wouldn’t even  _ get _ to the date.

As she lay on her bed moping, her phone buzzed again for probably the fiftieth time in ten minutes. She knew it was Miles, trying to patch things up, but she wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.

“Gwen?”

She looked up, surprised to see her dad standing in her doorway; she hadn’t heard him come in. “Yeah?”

“Everything okay?”

She lay her head back on her pillow. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Mm-hm.” He came in, and noticed the dress laying on her desk. “What’s this?”

“A dress.”

Her dad frowned. “It’s not prom season, is it?”

“No, dad, it…” She sighed. “I got...invited to a dance.”

“Oh,” he said, nodding. “When is it?”

“Saturday,” she answered, “But I’m not going.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the guy I was going with, he…” She thought about how to phrase it; “He lied to me.”

“Oh. Well, guess you wouldn’t want to go with a guy who lies, huh?”

“Nope,” she answered, closing her eyes.

“Hm. Well...I’m going into work. Will you be alright for dinner?”

“Yeah, dad, I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Just don’t go to The Crust, you eat too much greasy food.”

“Yeah, okay.”

Captain Stacy walked to the door, and gave one more worried look at Gwen. “You’re sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

She shook her head.

“Alright. See you tonight, kiddo.”

She gave a half wave as he left the room. She thought about what her dad had said:  _ guess you wouldn’t want to go with a guy who lies? _

While he  _ had _ lied, she also knew Miles would never intentionally try to hurt her. And she  _ did _ like him; part of her thought he liked her, too. He was her best friend, and he was one of the very few people who knew what it was like to be a superhero.

Next to her, her phone buzzed again. Gwen glanced at it, not surprised to see another text from Miles. She ignored it; she wasn’t ready to talk to him yet. Getting up from her bed, she went to find her Spider-Woman costume. No use sitting here sulking.

 

The next day was Friday, and Miles trudged through the school day, wanting the day to end so he could continue his moping at home. When the final bell of the day rang, he was more than happy to head back to his dorm to grab his stuff.

“So what’re you going to do tomorrow?” Ganke asked as he watched Miles pack.

“I don’t know,” Miles responded with a shrug. “Probably draw. Listen to music. The usual.”

“No word from Gwen yet?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. 

“You should go see her.”

Miles sighed. “Maybe…”

“Why don’t you come to the dance anyway?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Well...I mean..there’s probably a lot of girls who don’t have dates. Tiffany Smith down the hall, she’s kind of cute, and I don’t think she’s going with anyone.”

But Miles shook his head. “I don’t want to go with Tiffany Smith; I want to go with Gwen.” Finished, he zipped up his backpack. “Have fun.”

Ganke frowned, sad to see his friend upset. “See you on Monday, I guess.”

Miles waved and, with his bag in hand, left the dorm room.

 

After taking the subway, Miles made the walk home. His mother, Rio greeted him at the door with her usual scattering of kisses.

“ _ Mom _ ,” he said. “Can I get in, please?”

“In a minute,” she said, giving both cheeks one more kiss for good measure. Finished, she smiled as he entered the house, but her happy demeanor faded when she saw the look on her son’s face. “Miles? Que paso?”

“Nothing, mom,” he answered, heading to his room.

Not buying it, she took his arm, stopping him in his tracks. “Miles? You can talk to me.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m just really tired, that’s all. Is it okay if I take a nap?”

Rio Morales searched his face, trying to figure out the problem, but couldn’t come up with anything. “Okay,” she said, nodding her head. “Your dad doesn’t get home for a few hours. We’ll have dinner then.”

Miles gave her a small smile. “Thanks, mom.”

Entering his room, he closed it behind him as he lay on his bed. Truth be told, he  _ was _ tired. Tired of being sad, yes, but the last two days left him feeling drained. As he prepared to take a nap, though, he caught sight of his open closet and saw the suit he and his dad bought last week hanging up. He turned so he was facing away from it, then closed his eyes.

 

“Miles?”

His dad’s voice woke him up a few hours later. He blinked himself awake, and saw his dad standing near the bed. “Hey dad.”

“What’s going on? Your mom said you were upset.”

“I’m not upset,” he said, sitting up. “I’m good.”

Jefferson didn’t seem to believe him, either, but he nodded. “Alright. Dinner’s ready. We got pizza.”

Miles smiled weakly, and followed his dad into the next room. The Davis-Morales family talked about their week, with Miles not saying too much. Finally, though, the thing he was trying to keep secret came out when the dance came up.

“So, papi,” his mom began, “Where are you and Gwen going for dinner tomorrow?”

“We’re not...we’re not going,” he admitted.

“You’re not?” Jefferson asked.

“No,” Miles said, shaking his head.

“Mijo, what happened?” asked Rio.

“We...she...I did something, and it made her not want to go, I guess.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“What’d you do?” his dad asked.

“I...uh...overheard something private, and it made her mad.”

“Oh, Miles,” his mom said. “I’m sorry.”

“Have you tried talking to her?” asked Jefferson.

“I tried,” Miles answered. “I’ve texted and called her, but she’s not answering.”

“Have you tried just talking to her? In person?”

That reminded Miles of what Ganke had suggested just a few hours earlier. “No.”

“Give it a try,” his dad said. “You never know.”

“But how do I even know she’ll talk to me?”

“You don’t. It’s a leap of faith, Miles,” Jefferson responded.

Miles nodded and thought about it.

When dinner was over, Miles had made up his mind: he was going to talk to Gwen. He made some excuse to his parents and then left the house. A block away he found an ally where he used his goober to transport himself into Earth-65.

After changing into his Spider-Man uniform, he sent another text to Gwen.  _ can u talk? _

A minute went by before he got a response, saying  _ webbing baddies. Talk soon? _

“Sooner than you think,” he said to himself. He texted her back, saying  _ ok _ . An instant later he’d pocketed his phone and webbed up the side of a building. He didn’t know, of course  _ where _ she was, but he figured if he swung around the city he’d find her eventually.

It took him almost an hour.

It’d slipped his mind how big New York was in  _ any _ universe, but after almost 42 minutes he found Gwen running across a rooftop. Landing a roof behind her, he was able to catch up quickly. “Spider-Woman!” he called as he ran behind her.

Gwen, about ten feet ahead, looked over her shoulder, slowing down to a walk. “Miles? What’re you doing here?”

Finally catching up, Miles paused, now thinking  _ maybe I should’ve thought this out _ . As usual, he was having a hard time with finding the right thing to say to her. “I needed to talk to you,” he finally managed to say. He pulled his mask off, and Gwen did the same. Miles felt himself begin to smile; it’d only been two days since they’d seen each other, but it was so good to see her in person again.

“I’m...I’m kind of busy right now, Miles,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted. “I know you’re mad, and I know you don’t really want to talk to me, but...I’m sorry, Gwen. I was just trying to give you something, and it just...happened.” He looked at her to gauge her response, and she seemed to soften up some. 

“Miles…” she began, rubbing her arm. “I’m not mad.”

“You’re not?”

“I mean...I  _ was _ , but...I’m not anymore.” She sat down, and Miles followed suit.

“Then why aren’t you talking to me? Why haven’t you called me back?”

She looked away before she answered, saying “Because...the stuff I said to Em Jay, it was...it was personal. I wasn’t ready for you to hear it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

It was silent for a beat until Miles asked “Well...how come you never told me? You know, about being nervous?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. How come you lied when I asked you how long you’d been there?”

“Um...because...I guess I didn’t want to embarrass you?”

_ Too late for that _ , Gwen thought.

Miles sighed. “Gwen, again, I’m sorry. And...I understand if you don’t want to go to the dance anymore, but...I miss being your friend.”

She frowned. “We’re still friends, Miles.”

He felt himself grin. “We are?”

Gwen nodded. “Yeah, but…” She rubbed her arm again. “I think that’s  _ all _ we should be. You know?”

Now Miles felt himself frown as he understood what she was implying. “Oh. Um...okay. Sure.”

Gwen stood. “I’ve got to get moving.”

Miles stood as well, pulling his mask down in the process. “Me, too.”

“Um...I’ll talk to you later?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

She gave him a small smile before putting her mask on and webbing away. 

Miles watched her go before he turned on his goober and returned home.

 

An hour later Gwen climbed in her own window and cursed at herself for screwing things up with Miles.  _ Why didn’t you tell him? _ She asked herself.  _ Just tell him how you feel _ . She’d been honest when she said she wasn’t mad; her anger had long been replaced by flat out embarrassment.

She missed him. She missed their inside jokes and teasing, and the name calling of “Gwanda” or “Spider-Boy.” She missed texting and calling him;  _ so why didn’t you tell him that?? _ She asked herself.

Plus, the look on his face when she said maybe they should just stay friends was both sad and telling. Sad in that she kept replaying the hurt look on his face after he realized what she meant. Telling because... _ does he like me, too? _ She wondered.

Angry with herself, she tossed her mask, hard, hearing it smack against the wall and then disappear under the bed. She changed out of her spider-suit and then went looking for the mask. As she reached underneath her bed, though, her hand touched something else first. Using her sticky fingers, she pulled it out; it was a drawing. Not  _ any _ drawing, though-it was one of her.

She still had the first one Miles gave her; this one was different. It was her-the white/black suit and haircut gave her away-looking out at the setting sun.

_ So this is what Miles was giving me that day _ , she said to herself. She flipped it to the back, and saw a small note written on it:

_ For “Gwanda” _

_ Thanks for the dance _

_ -Miles _

She smiled, running her hand over his handwriting. He’d came to give her this drawing, and she, in turn, had rejected him.

Maybe it wasn’t too late, she thought as she picked up her phone. Maybe I can talk to him, tell him I’ve been dumb, apologize…

She stopped, thinking about the look on his face.  _ Would he even want to talk to me anymore?  _ She was afraid she’d ruined things forever.

_ No _ , she told herself.  _ I let my fears and nerves mess things up before, I’m not going to let them mess things up again _ .

She sent him a text, asking if he wanted to talk. As she waited, she looked up at the dress that still sat on her desk. Grinning, she made a decision.

 

The next day, Saturday, was the day of the dance. Miles had gone to sleep almost as soon as he got home Friday night, and was surprised to see he had received a text from Gwen asking if he could talk. He picked up his phone to respond, then decided against it. He’d also received a text this morning from Ganke, suggesting he come to the dance with he and Katie. He texted back  _ can’t. busy _ with a spider emoji before he put his phone down.

He left his bedroom and walked to the kitchen, where his dad was putting the final touches on French toast, Miles’s favorite breakfast food. “Morning,” Jefferson said.

“Good morning.”

“Feeling any better?”

Miles shrugged. “I’m okay. Where’s mom?”

“She had to go into work. You mind setting the table?”

Miles set it up for the two of them, and a few minutes later they were sitting and eating their meal.

“Did you have any luck?” Jefferson asked.

Miles looked confused. “Luck with what?”

“Talking with Gwen? I assume that’s where you went last night.”

Miles bit his lip, then shook his head. “We talked, but…she still doesn’t wanna go.”

Jefferson nodded. “I’m sorry.” They were both quiet for a moment, until Jefferson asked “Why don’t you just go anyway? You might still have fun.”

“To be honest, dad, I’m not really a big dance guy anyway.”

Jefferson peered over his glasses. “Do you remember how expensive that suit was?”

Miles chuckled. “Yeah, yeah, I remember.”

“As much as I paid for that suit, you’re  _ going _ to that dance, son. Those girls will get one look at you in that thing…”

“ _ Dad _ , come on.”

“Did I ever teach you the shoulder touch? See, when I first met your mom, I....”

“Is it like this?” Miles asked, placing a hand on his dad’s shoulder. “ _ Hey _ .”

Jefferson looked shocked. “How did you know?”

Miles moved his hand. “Uncle Aaron showed me.”

His dad smiled, remembering his brother. Shaking his head, he muttered “Aaron. That’s wrong, by the way.”

“What’s wrong?”

“The ‘hey.’ It’s gotta be more like... _ hey _ .”

“That’s how I said it!”

They both laughed, Miles beginning to feel better. Finally he nodded his head, saying “Alright, alright. I’ll go to the dance.”

So after breakfast was finished, Miles spent the next couple of hours getting a haircut, showering, and letting Ganke know he’d meet him there. After his mom returned home and took a few pictures of him in his suit, he was off to the school dance.

 

The event was already in full swing when he arrived, with couples either on the dance floor or sitting at tables. Miles found the couple he was looking for-Ganke and Katie-at a table near the gymnasium’s door. Miles watched his roommate smile when he saw him.

“I thought you weren’t coming,” Ganke said as Miles approached the table.

“Yeah, well...I figured it was better than sitting out home moping, so…” He took a seat with them. Ganke introduced Katie and Miles, with Katie saying “So I heard you taught Ganke how to dance?”

“Yeah,” Miles said with a nod. “But if he’s bad at it, that’s on him.”

She laughed, then excused herself to use the bathroom.

“She seems nice,” Miles said.

Ganke, watching her leave, smiled. “Yeah.” Turning back to Miles, he said “What made you change your mind?”

Miles shrugged. “I took your advice.”

“Huh?”

“I talked to Gwen.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, and she didn’t really want to come. So I just figured I might as well come anyway, so…”

Ganke nodded, then looked up, a look of surprise coming on his face as he looked towards the entrance. “Dude,” he said, nudging Miles. Miles followed his gaze, and saw what his friend was pointing to. There, in the doorway, stood Gwen Stacy. She looked beautiful in her dress, and Miles was trying not to flat out stare. Her eyes met his, and she nervously fidgeted with her hands as Miles made his way over.

“Hey,” he said as he reached her

“Hey.”

Miles put his hands in his pockets. “You, uh...you look really nice.”

“Thanks,” she said, pushing a loose strand of hair back. “You, too.”

Miles nodded. “What’re you doing here?”

“I, uh..I wanted to apologize.”

He frowned. “For what?”

“For...overreacting, I guess. I was so nervous about going to this dance, that I just kind of...I don’t know...let my nerves win.” She shrugged, then jokingly added “Plus I already had the dress, so…”

Miles grinned back. “I’m sorry. For, you know...accidentally eavesdropping and stuff. I wasn’t trying to embarrass you.”

“I know,” she said.

“But if it helps, I...I like you, too, Gwen.”

She smiled, her cheeks turning a light pink as she looked away. After a moment, she turned back and said “I found your picture.”

“What do you mean?”

“The one you left in my room.”

“Oh. Oh! Uh...yeah. Sorry about that.”

“Don’t be,” she said. “I like it.”

Miles smiled back.

A slow song began playing, and they sat there listening for a moment before Miles stuck his hand out. “Want to dance, Gwanda?”

She blushed, but nodded. “Lead the way, Spider-Boy.”

Hand in hand, they entered the gymnasium. “That’s still not funny, by the way,” Gwen whispered.

 

The dance seemed to go buy in a blur. After slow dancing to a song, Miles and Gwen sat with Ganke and Katie for a while. Katie recognized Gwen from the hair-pulling-incident a few months back, and asked “I thought your name was Gwanda?”

Miles barely held back a laugh, while Gwen rolled her eyes, saying “That was just a joke.”

They spent the rest of the time talking to each other and occasionally dancing, happy to be in one another’s company again. When the dance was just about over, the two of them went back to Miles’s dorm room, with him wanting to show her some other sketches he’d done.

“You don’t dance as badly as I thought you would,” she said as they entered his room.

“I told you I’m coordinated,” he said, looking at his desk for his sketchbook.

Gwen sat on Ganke’s bunk. “I never said you were coordinated, I just said you weren’t that bad.”

Miles shook his head. Finding his notebook, he sat next to her and opened it to a page. Gwen smiled as she saw sketches he’d done of her and the Mary Janes, performing at one of their shows.

“This is really good,” she said.

“I’m still working on it. When it’s done, I can make you a copy, if you want.”

She nodded as she turned the page, curious to see what else he’d drawn recently. There was a sketch of he and Ganke, a mural he was working on, and finally a sketch of her where she looked like she was laughing.

“Wow,” she said. “You made me look kind of cute.”

Miles shrugged. “It’s not that hard to do.” Realizing what he said, he felt himself blush as Gwen smiled at him.

“You’re...kind of cute too, sometimes,” she said back.

Miles smiled back at her, and as his eyes met hers, he thought to himself  _ Now. Now’s the right time; kiss her. _ Gwen must have thought something similar, he figured, because just as he began to lean in she did, too.

They were interrupted when the door suddenly opened. Ganke came in, saying “Man oh man, tonight was so awesome! I…” He paused as his eyes landed on Miles and Gwen sitting on his bed, and the realization of what was probably happening (plus the glare Miles was giving him) made him stop in his tracks. “I...um...I gotta go to the bathroom,” he said, slowly backing up and stepping into the hallway, closing the door behind him.

“Sorry about that,” Miles said.

“No,” Gwen said, closing the notebook and standing. “I should probably go, anyway.”

“Oh. Okay,” Miles said, standing as well. “I’ll, uh...I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

Gwen nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.  _ Did I miss my chance? _ He wondered. “Well...I guess I’ll see you.”

She nodded, giving him a look he didn’t understand before finally walking over, wrapping her arms behind his neck and pulling him close for a kiss. Miles was surprised at first, but kissed her back, putting his hands on her waist as he suddenly realized  _ it’s happening!  _ The kiss lasted all of twenty seconds before Gwen pulled away with a smile.

“You  _ really _ weren’t going to kiss me?” she asked.

“Well...uh…”

She shook her head. “You’re so clueless, Miles.” She gave his cheek a kiss before they let go of another. 

“So, uh...tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow,” she said, switching on her goober. Smiling at him one last time, she stepped through the portal and into her universe.

Miles had never smiled so big in his life. Best. Day. Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...they finally kissed :)  
> One more chapter to go...maybe.The next chapter will be more like an epilogue. There might be a bit of a delay with the next one getting posted as I have some personal things coming up as well as trying to finish up a story in my other fandom. I'll do the best I can.  
> I do have an idea for a continuation/sequel to this story. It would still be revolved around Miles and Gwen but would include other spider-people a little more often. I haven't decided whether just to keep this story going and add onto it or begin a whole new series. I was leaning towards a new series but am open to continuing this one. Any thoughts?  
> Thank you so much for reading (and leaving comments :), you guys are the best.


	12. Let's Do This One Last Time

_ A week later… _

 

The last bell of the day had just rang, and Miles all but sprinted out of his last class-history-to get to his dorm room. He was, of course, happy about it being Friday. But he was even  _ more _ excited that it was the first day since Sunday that he’d get to see Gwen. The day after last week’s dance he’d gone to her universe, where they’d alternated between punching out bad guys and just talking. They talked about school, villains, and most of all- _ them _ . Gwen expanded more on the hesitations she had, and Miles talked about the few that’d been in the back of his head, too. But after they’d spent some time airing out their grievances, they didn’t care anymore; they were both all in.

Sure, they’d texted each other all week, but today was the day Miles got to see her again.

And he couldn’t wait.

 

On Earth-65, Gwen was in a similar state of mind, webbing home after her last class-math-to dump off her belongings. She and Miles had agreed to meet each other at 4:00 in his universe, and it was currently 3:42. Almost time.

Her dad was at work, and he’d be out late. Miles had said he was going to give his parents some excuse, and the two of them would meet up for a few hours before he headed home. As she zipped out another webline, Gwen couldn’t help but feel butterflies in her stomach as it got closer to 4:00. She’d been looking forward to meeting up with him all day; did he feel the same? Had he been thinking about her?

She wasn’t sure what they’d be doing tonight-probably their usual of beating up people and eating something greasy-but she didn’t care, as long as she got to see him.

Seeing her house in the distance, she tried to web faster.

 

At 4:03, Miles sat on the rooftop across from his dorm, legs dangling as he awaited Gwen.  _ Should I kiss her? _ He wondered.  _ Is it too soon? What should I… _ His thoughts were interrupted when there was a sudden flash of light behind him, and Miles glanced over his shoulder as Gwen, mask off, walked into his universe.

“You’re late, Gwanda,” he said, standing up.

“Didn’t Einstein once say that time was relative? So maybe I’m not not late,” she answered, smiling. “Maybe  _ you’re _ just early?”

Miles returned the smile as he made his way over to her. Standing across from each other, neither knew what to do next until Miles hesitantly put his hands on Gwen’s waist as he leaned in and kissed her. Gwen’s hands went to his shoulders as she kissed him back.

“Hey,” he said when they’d pulled apart.

She giggled. “Hey.”

“So..um,” he said, awkwardly removing his hands, “What do you want to do?”

“Our usual? Beating up people and getting some burgers?”

“Sounds good,” he said. Shrugging, he said “Or we  _ could _ go see a movie.”

She grinned at him. “A movie? Are you asking me on a date, Miles?”

“Maybe,” he answered. “It depends on what your answer is.”

She looked out at the city. “Let’s go beat up some bad guys and I’ll let you know.”

Miles nodded. “Okay. Did you...tell anyone about us?”

“No,” she answered. “I’m still trying to figure out how to tell people I have a boyfriend from another dimension without it sounding weird.” She glanced at him, and saw a goofy smile on his face. “What?”

“You said ‘boyfriend’,” he responded.

Gwen replayed her words in her head. “No I didn’t.”

“Yeah, you did.”

Gwen felt herself blush as her last statement came back to her. She and Miles had been talking a lot over the past week, but surprisingly had not discussed exactly “what” they were.

“It’s okay,” Miles said, continuing to smile. “I kind of liked hearing it. You know, because I  _ am _ a pretty amazing guy, so…”

“Oh my gosh, shut up,” she said jokingly. Pulling her mask on, said “Let’s go, Spider-Boy” as she leapt off the roof.

Miles watched her for a second before he pulled on his mask. Smiling underneath, he whispered “Boyfriend” to himself before jumping off the roof as well.

 

A few hours later they returned, both tired from stopping a group of small crimes throughout the city. They took a seat on the roof, with Miles placing a bag of fast food between them. Whipping off their masks, they began to dig in.

“I’m still waiting on a thank you, by the way,” Miles said after he’d chewed some of his food.

Gwen frowned. “A thank you for what?”

“That mugger almost shot you!”

“Which mugger?”

“The one down by the school.”

Gwen chewed as she took a moment to think. She shook her head, saying “I was fine.”

“No; I webbed the gun before he could pull the trigger.”

“I would’ve got him,” she said, taking her pickles out of her sandwich and putting them on Miles’s wrapper. “I thought I told them no pickles.”

“So you’re really not going to thank me?”

Gwen rolled her eyes. “Thank you, Spider-Man, for saving me from some random mugger that I could have easily kicked in the face had you not intervened.”

Miles nodded. “Now was that so hard?”

Without missing a beat, Gwen shot a webline out, stealing a fry from Miles.

“Hey!”

She smiled, chewing up the fry.

They spent the next few minutes eating, enjoying the view and being in each other’s company as they talked about school and made jokes about the thieves they’d just fought. As they were finished eating, Miles said “So…boyfriend?”

Gwen shook her head, knowing she was probably blushing. “Slip of the tongue.”

“Yeah, but…”

“We haven’t even been on a...a  _ date _ or anything.”

“This is kind of a date,” Miles said.

“What?”

“We just did something together, and now we’re sitting together watching the sunset. Plus we had a great meal.”

Gwen looked down at her half-finished food. “I don’t know if I’d call this great…”

“So? What do you say?”

“What do I say to what?” she asked, a sly smile coming to her lips.

“About...you know...being my girlfriend?”

She narrowed her eyes. “That’s not really asking me.”

He sighed, and turned so he was facing her. “Gwendolyne Maxine Stacy, will you please by my girlfriend?”

She looked up from her burger. “How’d you know my middle name?”

“Are you serious right now?”

She shrugged. “Kind of.”

“When I was in your room that one time I saw a school paper, it had your name on it.”

“Oh. What’s yours?”

“Gonzalo.”

She snickered. “Really?”

“Why’re you being so difficult about this?”

“I’m not,” she answered. “I’m just curious.”

“Forget I asked,” he said, turning around.

“Miles…”

“No, I take it back. I’m sure there’s another spider-man in another universe you can hang out with.” He lowered his head in mock embarrassment. 

Gwen sighed, and put her food down. “What’re you doing?”

“Trying to make you feel bad,” he said, sneaking a look at her. “Is it working?”

She scooted closer to him. “You are too cute,” she answered, wrapping her hands behind his neck before she kissed him. Pulling away after a moment, she said “Yes, Miles, I would love to be your girlfriend.”

Miles smiled, turning towards her and kissing her back.

“But you know,” Gwen said a moment later, “This is still technically not a date.”

“What?”

“Sitting on a rooftop eating burgers?”

“Okay, okay,” Miles admitted. “How about dinner and a movie sometime tomorrow?”

She smiled. “Okay.”

 

The following weekend, Miles and Gwen did something that made both of them nervous-she met Miles’s parents.

Gwen, surprisingly, was the one that brought it up. On Thursday they were doing a video chat, when she’d asked what he was doing during the upcoming weekend.

Miles had shrugged. “I don’t know. Meeting you, hopefully,” he said, which made both of them blush a little. “But besides that? Dinner with my parents, and drawing.”

“Um,” she began, “Do you think your parents would be okay if I came over?”

That surprised him. “Uh...probably. You  _ want _ to see them?”

“Well, yeah,” she answered. “They wanted that picture of us at the dance, right? We don’t have to, I just…”

“No, we can,” Miles answered. “I’m just kinda surprised, is all.”

She smiled at him, and it was silent for a beat before Miles asked “Does that mean I’m going to meet your dad?”

“One thing at a time, Spider-Boy,” she answered.

When the big day finally came, both Miles and Gwen had butterflies in their stomachs. Miles hadn’t told his parents Gwen was coming over, he’d just asked if it was okay if he had a friend over for dinner, which they’d said yes to.

When there was a knock at the front door, Jefferson went to get it before Miles called “I got it, I got it!” and rushed past his dad to open the door. Gwen looked nice, dressing up for the occasion in a dress. “Wow,” Miles said. “You look...pretty.”

She smiled. “Are you going to invite me in, or…”

“Yeah!” He moved aside and Gwen entered, Miles closing the door behind her. Miles’s parents stood a few feet away, both wearing identical curious looks.

“Miles, mi amor?” Rio asked. “What’s going on?”

“Um,” Miles said, turning to face them. “Do you guys remember Gwen?”

His parents shared a knowing look.

“She’s, uh...kinda my girlfriend now.”

Gwen felt herself blush as Rio clapped, happy for her son. Jefferson, meanwhile, nodded his head happily. “Why didn’t you tell us, son?” he asked, clapping Miles on the back.

“It kind of…” Miles began, looking at Gwen, “..just happened,” he finished, shrugging his shoulders.

Jefferson smiled. “Well thanks for using the door this time,” he said jokingly to Gwen.

“Well, I didn't want to ruin my dress,” she joked back.

Miles’s dad laughed at that, and Rio smiled. “Come in,” she told her guest. “Dinner’s almost ready.”

“In a minute, mom,” Miles told her. His parents walked off into the next room, and Miles turned to Gwen. “Scared?”

“Terrified,” she joked. “I told you, your parents are nice.”

“Yeah, they are,” he said. “I hope you like roast beef, that’s what’s for dinner.”

Gwen shrugged. “Anything’s better than those burgers we had last weekend.”

Miles looked hurt. “They’re the best burgers in Brooklyn.”

“Maybe in your mind,” she said. Nodding down the hall, she asked, “Shall we?”

Miles took her hand, and the two went to join his parents.

“Gwen,” Rio asked as they entered the kitchen. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay,” Gwen said, nervous.

“What made you decide to shave your hair like that?” she asked, referring to the shaved half of her head.

“Oh, boy,” Miles muttered.

Gwen smiled. “Funny you should ask…”

 

Dinner went surprisingly well, with both Jefferson and Rio thinking very highly of Gwen. When dinner was over, Miles told his parents he was going to walk Gwen down the street to the subway-when really he was walking her to an alley where she’d return home.

“Your dad is funny,” she told him as they made their way down the street. “And your mom is really nice.”

“They’re cool,” Miles said, nodding his head in agreement. “I still can’t believe my mom asked about your hair.”

Gwen smiled. “Yeah, we should’ve seen that coming.”

“That was a heckuva story you came up with,” he told her.

“I’m quick on my feet,” she said. “And I lie better than you, so…”

Gwen had made up a story about Miles getting gum stuck in her hair and her having to shave it as a result.

“I lie pretty well,” Miles said.

“Really?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. “Do I need to remind you of the ‘history of science’ assignment we had?”

Miles got quiet “Okay, you got me there.”

Gwen smirked, then took his hand as they neared the end of the street.

“How’s your dad?” he asked. “Is he funny?”

She sighed. “Uh...not particularly. He has his moments, though.”

“Don’t worry,” Miles said. “When I meet him, I’ll be funny enough for both of us.”

Gwen stopped walking, giving him a look. “You’re not that funny, Miles.”

“Yes I am,” he said. “I’m hilarious.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay.” They kept walking, with Gwen eventually saying “Well, he works a lot, so it might be awhile before you get to meet him.”

“Oh,” he said, stopping. “I wasn’t trying to, you know, suggest it or anything.”

“I know,” she said. “And I’m not trying to stall. I think he’ll like you. But I’m still trying to figure out how to introduce you, exactly.”

“How about as that cute boy you go to school with?”

“Your ego has really gone up, hasn’t it?”

They reached the alley they were heading for, and stopped at it’s entrance. “My band is playing on Sunday,” she said. “You wanna come?”

“Sure,” he said. “And that picture of you guys, I’ll have it done by then.”

“Okay.”

She let go of his hand, reaching into her purse and pulling out her goober.

“So I guess we’ll talk tomorrow?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

He nodded, then the two moved closer, sharing a kiss. They both smiled as they pulled away, with Gwen turning on her goober. “See you later, Spider-Boy.”

He chuckled. “Talk to you soon, Gwanda.”

She jokingly narrowed her eyes at him, then walked through to Earth-65.

Miles shook his head as the portal closed behind her. He already couldn’t wait to see her again.

 

_ Alright, let’s do this one last time…. _

 

_ My name is Miles Morales, and for the last few months I’ve been the one and only Spider-Man. I’ve saved the city from destruction, stopped muggers and thieves, traveled to other dimensions, and managed to stay on the honor roll at Visions Academy. Not too bad for a kid from Brooklyn. _

_ Along the way I’ve made some good friends-my roommate Ganke, as well as some other spider-powered people like myself. One of them, Earth-65’s Gwen Stacy, aka Ghost Spider, aka Spider-Woman, aka Gwanda found a way for us to see each other on a regular basis, and after some stalling on both sides, we’ve started dating. I *love* being Spider-Man. And I *love* hanging out with Gwen. What does the future hold? Guess we’ll have to wait and see... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, after much debate, I decided I'm just going to continue this series. It didn't really make a whole lot of sense to start a new one if I'm just writing more of the same of this. So consider chapters 1-12 to be "Part 1" and "Part 2" will begin with chapter 13.  
> Unfortunately, though, there's going to be somewhat of a wait until the next chapter: maybe 2-3 weeks. I haven't begun writing it yet, and I still need to map things out. I know what I'd like to include in the next few chapters, but it might be awhile.  
> I apologize for not writing out the date Miles and Gwen had. I felt like that would be its own chapter, so I'll either write it as the next chapter or a one-shot (preferences, anyone?)  
> And I've said it so many times by now, but thank you guys so much for reading this series. I was hesitant to venture out from my original fandom and write this, but I loved the movie, loved the characters, and the response I got was overwhelming.  
> Okay, I'll stop rambling. As always, thanks for reading.


	13. First Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. Last chapter I said Part 2 was starting with this chapter; part two will begin with 14. This is the first date mentioned in the previous chapter. Sorry if there's confusion.

Gwen’s drumsticks hit her drums, staying on pace with the song as Em Jay and the rest of the Mary Janes practiced. Rehearsal was supposed to have been finished by now, and if they didn’t stop soon, Gwen thought she may say something.

Usually she wouldn’t mind (they were only fifteen minutes late), but tonight was special-it was her first date with Miles.

Yes, after weeks of awkward flirting and doubting her feelings, she and Miles were officially a couple now. She still had a hard time believing that this boy she’d met by chance (from another universe, no less) had ended up being her best friend and, eventually, her boyfriend. So far she hadn’t told anyone about her new relationship status. Well, there was Em Jay, who kind of knew. But she hadn’t told her other bandmates, or her father, either. She was still trying to figure out how to go about it:

_ Hey, dad, besides being Spider-Woman I’m dating this guy who’s Spider-Man from another universe. _

_ Dad, this is Miles. Miles, dad. How’d we meet? Funny you should ask… _

_ Dad, this is my boyfriend, Miles. No, we didn’t meet at school, we met in his universe where we were fighting off this big fat guy named Kingpin who was trying to open up another dimension to save his own family. Dad?...Dad? _

She smiled, shaking her head; she’d figure it out eventually.

“Okay, guys? Guys!” Em Jay said, getting the band’s attention. Gwen stopped drumming, Glory stopped playing the keyboard, and Betty ceased with strumming her bass.

“It’s sounding better,” Em Jay said, “But Glory, you’re coming in late at the chorus.”

Glory shot her a look. “No I’m not.”

“You kinda are,” Betty chimed in.

Glory shook her head. “Whatever.”

“And Betty,” Em Jay continued, surprising the bassist, “You’re, like, two beats behind us.”

“Am not,” Betty argued.

“You kinda are,” Glory said smugly; Betty shot her a look.

“Well, what about Gwen?” Betty asked.

Gwen looked up from her phone. “What about me?”

“Are you seriously going to ignore the fact that she missed leading me in?”

“What’re you talking about? I didn’t miss anything,” Gwen argued.

“Okay, how about we all just admit we still need practice with this song,” Glory said. She glanced at her watch. “And I thought we were only rehearsing for an hour.”

Em Jay glanced at her phone, and made a face when she saw the time. “Yeah, fine, alright. But the show’s next week, so we need to double our rehearsing. Same time, tomorrow?”

“Fine,” Betty said, standing. Looking to Gwen, she said “Sorry about that.”

Gwen shrugged. “No worries.” She pocketed her phone, and put her drumsticks into her backpack.

“You guys hungry?” Glory asked. “I’m in the mood for some wings.”

“I’ll go,” Em Jay said. “Betty? Gwen?”

“I can’t, it’s my mom,” Betty said.

Em Jay nodded. “Gwen? What about you?”

“I, uh...I’ve already got plans,” she said.

Glory nodded, while Em Jay grinned knowingly.

A few minutes later, with their equipment stored and Betty and Glory talking about school, Em Jay pulled Gwen aside. “Already got plans?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Gwen said, wondering what was going on.

“Is it a  _ date _ ?”

“What’re you...how did you know?”

Em Jay smiled triumphantly. “You’ve been looking at your phone, like, every two seconds. Is it with Miles?” she whispered.

Gwen felt herself blush a little before she nodded her head. “Yes. It’s kind of our, um...first date.”

Em Jay squealed, and Gwen shushed her. “Where are you going? Are you nervous?”

“We’re just going to get something to eat, probably see a movie.” Em Jay squealed again, causing Gwen to say “Okay, you’ve got to stop that.”

“Well, have fun,” Em Jay said. “Are you freaking out?”

Gwen scoffed. “No. We’ve hung out plenty of times. And I’m sure Miles isn’t freaking out, either.”

.   .  .

Miles was freaking out.

He had a million questions running through his mind, and didn’t have answers for any of them.

_ What should he wear? _

_ Which movie should they see? Better yet, what kind of movie did she like? _

_ Should he wear his spider-suit, just in case? _

_ Was he supposed to pay for everything? Did he have enough money to pay for everything? _

_ Should they see the movie first and then eat or the other way around? _

_ Should he put his arm around her? Or was it too soon for that? _

He had to sit down, for fear of getting a headache. This dating stuff was hard.

Miles currently sat in his bedroom at his parent’s house, worrying that he was going to screw this up. His mind kept racing with questions that he couldn’t answer. In the past, he would go to his Uncle Aaron with questions like this; unfortunately, that wasn’t an option anymore.

Both his mom and dad were working at the moment; his mother until late tonight, and his dad would be home by the time Miles was scheduled to meet Gwen. He half considered calling Ganke; but his roommate was far from being a ladies man. Really, that left one other option.

Sighing, Miles took out his phone and dialed a number. After a few rings, a familiar voice picked up.

“Miles?” Peter B. Parker answered. He sounded out of breath.

“Hey, Peter,” Miles responded. “Uh...you got a minute?”

“Um,” there was a loud crash, and then background voices before Peter returned. “Now’s not the best time, kid. Can I call you back?”

Miles started to answer, but another crash cut him off. Curious, he asked “What’re you doing?”

“Yeah, that’s great! Talk to you later!” Peter said before hanging up.

Miles frowned at his phone. “That was weird,” he said to himself. Shrugging, he decided he’d get ready and maybe he’d stop panicking over time.

That was blown out the window, though, when ten minutes later he missed the flash of light behind him before Peter stepped into his universe. Miles’s back was turned as he dug through his closet. He missed Peter shrug, before asking “Miles? Did you need something?”

Miles jumped in surprise, and because of his leaping abilities, almost hit the ceiling. Once back on the ground, he turned to Peter, who was still in his spider-suit.

“Where’d you come from?” Miles asked.

“Manhattan,” Peter answered, sitting on Miles’s bed. “But I guess that’s not what you meant.”

“Why didn’t you call?”

Peter dug into his pocket, and brought out a shattered cell phone.

“Oh.”

“Yeah. These kinds of things tend to happen more than you’d think. Especially when I’m fighting the Sinister Six.”

Miles scrunched up his face. “The Sinister Who?”

“Nothing. What’s wrong?”

“I kind of need some advice.”

“Hm,” Peter said, nodding. “You  _ are _ using baby powder in the suit, right? Disinfecting the mask? Because it gets smelly.”

“No, it’s not...spider-related.”

“Oh. Okay, then...what?”

Miles sighed, thinking to himself  _ am I really doing this? _ Letting out a breath, he said “I need some advice on dating.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Oh, jeez, this again? Didn’t I tell you to talk to your dad?”

“He’s at work. And...he doesn’t...know about her yet.”

Peter sighed. “How long have you and Gwen been dating?”

“How do you know it’s Gwen?”

Peter gave him a look.

“Okay, okay, it’s Gwen. And...like a week. But this is our actual first date.”

“And you came to me?”

_ By default _ , Miles thought. He shrugged his shoulders and said “Yeah.”

Peter let out a breath. “Okay, kid; what ya got?”

.  . .

A little bit later Miles was going over Peter’s advice in his head as he awaited Gwen’s arrival. When he’d originally asked her on the date, he hadn’t taken into account that not only did they live in two different cities (him Brooklyn, her Queens), but in two different universes. After a brief discussion, they’d decided to meet in Miles’s dimension.

So currently, he was waiting outside of Visions Academy, waiting for her to appear. He didn’t have to wait for long, because a moment later, she arrived. He thought back to Peter’s advice:

 

_ “Okay, first thing, when she shows up, tell her she looks good. But don’t overdo it, or she’ll think you’re weird.” _

 

“Hey, Gwen,” he said, waving at her. She smiled as she got closer. She  _ did _ look good. She wore a skirt with tights underneath; not too different from her brief time at Miles’s school. On top was a red sweater.

“Hey,” she said, arriving in front of him.

“You look...really pretty.”

“Thanks,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “You look nice, too.” She looked around them. “So...movie? Or dinner?”

“Um, I thought we could eat first,” he said, shrugging. “That okay with you?”

“Yeah, sure,” she said. “Lead the way, Spider-Boy.”

He gave her a look, then the two began to walk.

 

Miles and Peter had gone back and forth about whether dinner or movie should go first. Miles had suggested the movie, saying “ _ It’ll give us something to talk about, right?” _

But Peter suggested that they eat first. “ _ So you don’t gorge on junk food at the theater, then not want to eat at dinner.” _

_“Oh. Okay._ _Am I supposed to pay for everything?”_

_ “Unless she offers, yeah.” Peter had scrunched his face. “Have you never been on a date before?” _

_ “I...I’ve been on a date.” _

_ “Miles, it’s okay. You know when I had my first date? I was seventeen. You don’t have to be embarrassed.” _

_ “Oh. Then...yeah, this is my first date.” _

_ Peter had nodded. “Usually the guy pays for the date.” _

 

“Please don’t tell me we’re going to that burger place again,” Gwen told Miles as they walked down the street.

“Why, what’s wrong with the burger place?”

“Okay, well, first of all, we had that yesterday, right? And second...it’s too greasy.”

“Says the girl whose favorite place is a pizza place.”

“ _ Third _ ,” she said, playfully pushing him, “It’s not much of a first date place, is it? I mean there wasn’t really anywhere to sit.”

“We could use our spider-powers,” he said. “And sit on the ceiling.”

She grinned. “Wouldn’t the food fall?”

“Oh yeah,” he admitted. “But no, there’s, uh...there’s this other place I thought we could go. I didn’t really know what kind of food you’d like; besides pizza, I mean. So I picked someplace that might be neutral.”

He ended up leading her to a small restaurant, which Miles explained served typical American food, but specialized in breakfast which they served all day.

“We don’t have to eat here,” he said. “There’s a couple of other places we could go…”

“It looks okay,” Gwen said, looking the establishment over. “This should be fine.”

They walked in, and were taken to a table. After their waiter gave them the menus, the two were on their own as they looked over their choices.

“Ooh, look,” Miles said, spying a dinner item. “They’ve got bacon burgers. With  _ pickles _ .”

Gwen looked over her menu at him, playfully glaring. “I hate you,” she commented. After a moment, she said “You never told me yours, by the way.”

“My what?”

“A food you don’t like,” she said, placing her menu down.

“Oh. Uh, I don’t like olives.”

Gwen nodded. “Okay, I agree with you there. Anything else?”

“Ummmm ...guacamole.”

Gwen’s jaw dropped. “How do you not like guacamole?”

“I don’t know, it’s too...slimy and wet and gross.”

“Then how do you eat your chips?”

Miles shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Just plain, I guess.”

“Not even salsa?”

He shook his head. “No, not that, either.”

“Oh my gosh,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “All this time, I thought I knew you.”

He laughed, and Gwen laughed too, exposing the little gap between her teeth that Miles adored. He started to say something about it, but stopped himself; Gwen noticed and asked “What?”

“Nothing,” he said. “Just...you have a pretty smile.”

“Oh. Thanks,” she said, smiling and looking shyly away. Turning back, she said “I used to get teased a lot about it; my gap? They called me beaver-teeth.”

Miles frowned. “Sounds like they didn’t have much of an imagination.”

Gwen shook her head. “No, they didn’t.” She leaned over the table a little and quietly asked “Did you bring your suit?”

Miles smiled, thinking back to Peter’s advice.

 

_ “Do not bring the suit.” _

_ “But what if something happens? Shouldn’t I be ready to…” _

_ “Do. Not. Bring. The. Suit,” Peter reiterated. When Miles began to say something else, Peter said “Look, I know you’re both, like, heroes and everything, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned since fixing things with MJ, it’s that you’ve gotta take some nights off.” _

_ “But what if….” _

_ “It won’t,” Peter said, interrupting. “Maybe after you two have dated for awhile, you can start wearing it underneath your clothes. But you want to show Gwen you’re serious about her, right?” _

_ “Yeah, I guess.” _

_ “Then leave the suit at home.” _

 

“No,” Miles answered. “Was I supposed to?”

“No,” she said, sitting back in her chair. “Just curious.”

“Why? You want to find those people who teased you and web ‘em up?”

“Maybe,” she said, smiling slyly as their waiter returned to take their orders.

Miles ordered a burger, asking for extra extra bacon as he waggled his eyebrows at Gwen. She rolled her eyes before placing her own order of a chicken salad sandwich.

“Next time,” she told him as the waiter walked off, “I’m getting chips with guacamole.”

Miles gave her a look before he asked “So what kind of movie did you want to see?”

“I don’t know,” she answered with a shrug. “That’s something I’ve always wondered, though.”

“What is?” Miles asked, taking out his phone.

“If the movies here are the same as the movies in my universe.”

“Only one way to find out,” Miles said. He slid his phone across the table to her. Gwen scooped it up and scrolled through. “Wow,” she said. “You guys have weird movies.”

“Why, what kind of movies do you like?”

“You know,” she said, still scrolling, “The usual stuff.”

“The usual stuff? You are aware that could be anything, don’t you?”

“Okay, well, like, comedies, I guess. Things you don’t have to really think about. Oh, and dance movies.”

“ _ Dance _ movies?”

“Yeah, like that one about the high school girls competing against each other? I forget it’s name…”

“What is it about dance movies you like?” he asked as she slid his phone back to him.

“I don’t know,” she said, shrugging. “Probably all the ballet I did when I was younger.”

Miles grinned. “You never told me you took ballet.”

“I thought I did.”

“No. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Gwen shook her head, smiling. “Unh-unh.”

“Yes. You  _ have _ to show me one of your ballet moves sometime.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head once more.

Miles began to say something else, but let it go for now. “Did you see a movie you liked?”

She told him what she wanted to see, and Miles agreed.

.  . .

After dinner, they took a subway train to the movie theater. After Miles paid for the tickets, Gwen got a bucket of popcorn for them to eat during the movie. Once they found their seats, Miles blushed a little when Gwen’s arm brushed his, as she moved the popcorn bucket so they could share.

“Thanks,” he told her.

She smiled back, taking out a handful of the snack.

Gwen had chosen to see a superhero movie, and once it began playing, they both got caught up in the action and plot, with the popcorn slowly being eaten away. During one part of the film, Gwen leaned over to whisper to Miles about how  _ she _ would’ve taken out the bad guy; he said something back, which got her giggling. After that exchange, she’d ended up laying her head on his shoulder for the rest of the movie.

And Miles didn’t mind at all.

 

When the movie was over, the two spider-teens left the theater, talking about their favorite parts of the film. As they walked down the sidewalk, their hands brushed each other’s at first before Miles took a leap and took Gwen’s hand in his. To his delight, she didn’t pull away; she squeezed his hand.

“It’s still kind of early,” she told him. “What do you want to do?”

“Um,” he started, pausing. “I would say we could web around, but seeing as how neither of us brought our... _ stuff _ , maybe we could go somewhere and just hang out?”

Gwen nodded. “Like where?”

So after another subway ride, Miles and Gwen climbed up the side of a building; Miles wanted to show her something.

“What is it?” Gwen asked as they got to the top.

“Over there,” Miles said, leading her towards the building’s edge.

Once they arrived, Gwen saw it: Miles’s mural to his late uncle. “Wow,” she said, taking a seat on the ledge. As Miles joined her, she asked “You did that?”

“Yeah,” he answered, shrugging. “I mean, my dad sort of helped me out, but yeah, it was me.”

Gwen looked skeptical. “Your dad helped you?”

“Yeah.”

“Your dad the police officer?”

“Yeah,” Miles answered, confused. “Why do you say it like that?”

“Didn’t you tell me he made you spend a whole Saturday going around the city taking off those stickers of yours?”

Miles shrugged once more. “Only the ones he knew about.”

Gwen smirked, then turned her gaze back to the mural. “Well, I guess it  _ was _ his brother. Still...that was pretty decent of him. Your dad’s pretty cool.”

Miles nodded in agreement, saying “He’s got his moments.”

There was a space between the two of them, their left and right hands in the middle. Gwen’s hand inadvertently touched Miles’, and he held her hand again.

“I wish he could’ve seen me, y’know?” Miles said. “My uncle.”

“He did,” Gwen reminded him.

“Yeah, but…” Miles shook his head. “I mean I wish he could see me  _ now _ . How far I’ve come with the whole Spider-Man thing. Back then, you know, with the whole Kingpin thing? I barely knew what I was doing.”

“You  _ still _ don’t know what you’re doing,” Gwen joked. When Miles gave her a look, she playfully bumped her shoulder with his.

“Maybe,” he admitted. “But honestly? I know you, Peter, Noir, Ham, and Peni didn’t plan on being here, in my dimension. But it was probably one of the best things that could’ve happened to me.”

“How so?”

“When the other Peter died, I’d just gotten these powers. I had no idea what I was doing. I probably would’ve been dead in a week. But you guys came, saved the day…”

“Hey, you helped,” she added.

“Yeah, but...all of you  _ got _ me there, helped me become…”

“The Amazing Spider-Boy?” she asked.

Miles rolled his eyes. “Yeah,  _ Gwanda _ , yeah.”

“I’m kidding,” she said, bumping him again. “To be honest, I’m happy it happened, too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “It felt good to know that I wasn’t alone; that there were other people going through the same things as me. I mean...I didn’t really have anyone to talk to about any of this.” She shrugged. “And now I do. Plus,” she said, looking shyly at him, “I got to meet you.”

Miles smiled at her, and the next thing he knew they were both leaning in, lips meeting in the middle as they shared a kiss. When they parted, grinning at one another, Gwen looked at her watch and made a face.

“What’s wrong?” Miles asked.

“I’ve gotta go,” she said. “I told my dad I’d be back.”

“Oh,” Miles said as the two stood.

“But...I really liked this,” she told him.

“Me, too.”

She held her goober in her hand. “Are you going to be able to get home from here?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “It’s not too far.” He then looked at the time. “Though I may be late…”

“Here,” she said, reaching into her purse. She came out with a web shooter. “It’s faster than the subway.”

“Thanks,” Miles said, attaching it to his wrist. “I owe you one.”

She shook her head. “You don’t owe me anything, Spider-Boy.” She hugged him; after the embrace, they still held each other, moving closer so they could kiss once more.

“See ya, Gwanda,” he teased.

She smiled at him. “Later, Miles.” Gwen clicked on her goober, and walked back to Earth-65.

Miles watched as the door to her dimension closed.  _ Awesome first date _ , he thought before he began webbing his way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try not to make you guys wait so long for the next one.


	14. Distractions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2 begins...

It was a Sunday afternoon, and Miles was being driven back to school. He sat in the rear of his father’s police cruiser, as his dad rambled away. They were passing a familiar building, causing Miles’ dad to get excited.

“There it is,” Jefferson commented. “ ‘Foam Party’.” He snorted. “What kind of a name is  _ that _ ?”

Miles nearly rolled his eyes. “Dad, you do this literally every time you drive this way.”

“I just can’t believe someone would name their place of business that. And look. People are lined up, like it’s something special. Give me a good old fashioned cup of Joe from home; I’ll be happy.”

From the back seat, Miles muttered “Oi.”

It’d been an uneventful weekend. Miles had returned home on Friday and then spent the next few days either webbing, drawing, or seeing Gwen. Usually he’d walk or Spider-Man his way back to Visions Academy; but his dad, who’d had to work all weekend, wanted to drive him.

Jefferson looked at Miles using the rearview mirror. “You’ve got your books, right?”

“Yeah, dad, I got ‘em,” Miles answered, patting his backpack.

“Okay. I want you to actually  _ use _ them, Miles. Your mom said you barely touched them this weekend.”

Miles shrugged. “I don’t really need to study.”

This week, Visions Academy was having their mid-term exams. Miles’s books had made the trip home with him; but after that, they’d mostly remained in his backpack, with a few guest appearances when his mom walked by his room.

“Uh-huh,” his dad said, not believing him. “All I know is, when we see those grades online in a few weeks, I’d better be seeing all A’s and B’s.”

Miles frowned. He was somewhat struggling with his science coursework. “What about a C?” he asked.

“If a C’s the best you can do, then yeah, but…” They’d arrived at a stoplight. “Miles, you’re a  _ lot _ smarter than you give yourself credit for. Don’t forget that, okay?”

Miles nodded. “Okay, dad.”

The light switched green, and Jefferson continued on. “By the way,” he said, “This Friday you’re gonna have the house to yourself.”

“Why?”

“Well, I got roped into the overnight shift, and your mom’s going to Jersey to see your grandmother.”

“You’re not going with her?”

Jefferson snorted again. “Why do you think I took the late shift?” he said softly, causing Miles to smile. “So don’t go throwing any wild parties or anything,” Jefferson finished.

“Can I have Gwen over?”

“Absolutely not,” his dad answered.

“Why?”

His dad gave him a look in the rearview mirror.

“Alright,” Miles said.

“Just take the night to relax, kick back.”

_ More like being Spider-Man _ , Miles thought to himself.

They arrived at Visions Academy, and his dad put the car in park. As Miles gathered his bag, Jefferson turned around in his seat. “Have a good week, son.”

“Thanks, dad.”

“And  _ study _ .”

“I know.”

As Miles opened his door, his dad added “I love you, Miles.”

“Yeah, dad. I know.” Remembering how this went last time, Miles added “I mean, I love you too.”

Jefferson grinned. “See you on Friday.”

Miles entered the school building, walking past his fellow students as he pulled out his cell phone. Walking with his head down, he sent a text message to Gwen-

_ webbing today? _

It took a minute, but eventually she responded with  _ sorry :( studying. 2morrow? _

He groaned. He knew Gwen had exams this week, too.  _ Fine _ , he texted back.  _ C you tomorrow. _

Miles got to his room, and saw his roommate, Ganke, immersed in something on his computer as he listened to music on his headphones. “Yo,” Miles said in an attempt to get his attention. When he didn’t get a response, Miles found a webshooter he kept in his closet and zipped a web at Ganke’s hand.

“Hey!” his roommate said, jumping in his seat. He glanced from Miles to his hand, taking off the headphones with his free hand. “You could’ve just waved or something.”

“Sorry.”

Ganke pulled on the web. “How long does this stuff stay on?”

Miles made his way over and yanked off the webbing, freeing Ganke’s hand. “A long time,” he answered. “Unless you have the proportionate strength of a spider.”

“Thanks,” Ganke said, rubbing his hand. “So? You ready for midterms?”

“I guess,” Miles said, sitting on his bed.

“I’ve literally been studying since I got back,” Ganke said, turning back to his screen.

“And when was that?”

“Two hours ago.” Picking his headphones back up, he asked “When’s your physics test?”

“Friday,” Miles answered.

“Are you getting a tutor or something?”

“I don’t need a tutor,” Miles moaned, laying on his back. “I’ll be fine.”

“If you say so,” Ganke said, putting his headphones on and playing his music.

 

After putting his things away, Miles decided to get in a little swing-time before he turned in for the night. He changed into his suit, then dove out the window and began his patrol. Besides stopping a couple of teens trying to steal a television from an apartment, the evening was pretty boring. He was ready to call it a night when he spotted one of his favorite street vendors, Sami, and decided to get one of his “World Famous Hot Dogs” to tide him over until breakfast.

“Hey Sam,” Miles said, landing a few feet away. “How’ve you been?”

“Very good, Spider-Man,” Sami answered, already preparing a bun. “Your usual?”

“Please,” Miles said, digging out a few dollars from his pocket. “How’s your night going?”

“Very good, thanks to you,” Sami said as he spread relish on the bun. 

“Thanks to me?”

Sami smiled, as if he knew something Miles didn’t. “You know what I mean. That mugger you webbed up a few blocks away.” He nodded down the street. “Cops still haven’t picked him up yet. I’m glad you got him when you did, it was just a matter of time before he made his way down here, you know.”

Miles had no idea what he was talking about, but nodded his head. “Um...you’re welcome?”

Sami chuckled as he traded Miles a hot dog for a few bucks.

“Thanks Sam,” Miles said

“Thank you, Spider-Man,” Sami replied. “Enjoy the dog!”

Miles webbed up the side of a building. As he began eating his snack, he thought about what Sami had said;  _ that mugger you webbed up a few blocks away _ . He’d only seen the teens; what was Sami talking about?

Finished with his meal, Miles ran across a few buildings in the direction Sami had nodded. He wasn’t sure he was going the correct way at first, but when he saw a police car parked outside of an alley with its lights flashing, he knew he was in the right place.

Miles perched himself on the edge overlooking the alley, and watched as two police officers attempted to cut a man out of a web cocoon.

“You know,” one of the officers told his partner, “I’m glad Spider-Man’s out here helping and everything, but does he have to make his webs so difficult to get into?”

Watching from thirty feet above, Miles started to say “I didn’t web this guy,” but kept it to himself. The officers eventually cut the mugger out, and after handcuffing him, walked him to their car. Before he left, Miles sent a text to Peter, asking  _ are you in my universe? _

He didn’t get a response right away, so he headed home with this mysterious web-assist on his mind;  _ who was it? Why hadn’t he seen him? _

By the time he got back to his dorm, he still didn’t have any answers. He had, however, received a response from Peter about whether or not he was visiting his universe:  _ No. Why? _

Frowning, Miles texted back with  _ just curious _ .

He climbed into his dorm room, where he found his roommate sleeping at his desk, his head in a book. Miles changed into his pajamas, then got onto his bed and pulled out his physics notebook, figuring he’d get in a little studying before bed. However, all he could think about was who’d webbed the mugger in that alley.

 

Miles cruised through school the next day; each class was prep for the week’s midterms, anyway. When the bell rang at the end of fifth period (physics), Miles began to leave when he heard “Mister Morales, can I see you for a minute?”

He hesitantly turned back to his teacher, Miss Calleros, who was waiting for him at her desk. “Yes, ma’am?”

“Midterms are coming,” she told him.

“I know,” he responded.

“And  _ you _ ,” she said, sliding back his most recent work, “are teetering very close to getting off the honor roll.”

Miles glanced at the paper, an assignment he’d done at the very last minute a week ago. Despite the D+ grade, he was still proud of himself for getting it done on time.

“It could be worse, right?” he asked, shrugging his shoulders. “I mean, it’s not an F.”

Miss Calleros raised an eyebrow, giving him a look. Miles ducked his head and got quiet. “You’ve made a lot of improvements these past few months,” she told him. “But lately, your grade...in this class, at least...hasn’t been matching your talent, I’m afraid.”

“I know,” he said. “I’ve been kind of...distracted lately.”

“I suggest, Mister Morales, that either you study like a madman over the next few days,  _ or _ …” She pushed a paper across her desk to him. “I’m providing a study session later this week after sixth period that you can come to.”

Miles nodded. “I’ll think about it.” He picked up both his graded paper and the study session info. “Thank you.” Walking out, he stuffed the papers into his backpack.

 

“You got a D+?” Gwen asked, later that day. She and Miles were sitting in his dorm room, sharing a pizza from The Crust, Gwen’s favorite spot to eat on Earth-65. Ganke was out in a study group of his own, so they’d had an impromptu “date” in the dorm. “Maybe you  _ do _ need to study more.”

“No I don’t,” Miles responded.

“Well, you need to do  _ some _ thing,” Gwen commented. “I don’t know how it is in your universe, but in mine a D+ isn’t a very good grade.”

Miles had been able to talk Gwen into taking a brief break to meet with him. He’d hoped she would be on his side, but unfortunately for him it wasn’t turning out that way.

“It was  _ one _ assignment,” he explained.

Gwen nodded. “How did you do on your other ones?”

He paused before answering. “Not...not too bad.”

Gwen smirked. “Okay.”

“Anyway,” Miles said, trying to change the subject. “How’s school going for you?”

“It’s good,” she answered. “Except my history final’s tomorrow, and I’m not looking forward to that.”

“Why not?”

“Because history is  _ boring _ ,” she explained. “It’s not like math or science, I love those.”

“Hey,” Miles began, coming up with an idea, “You’re good at science. How about you tutor me?”

“Yeah, uh, no.”

“Why not?”

Gwen gave him a look. “Really? Miles, we’d never get any work done.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean you’d get distracted.”

Miles swallowed the current slice he’d been chewing on. “How do you figure?”

She snorted a laugh. “You know what I mean.”

“What, you think I’d be distracted by your femine wiles or something? C’mon, I’m better than that.”

“You really think so? Okay,” she said, wiping her hands. Glancing at his face, she said, “You’ve got a little something on your cheek.”

“I do?” 

He went to wipe his face, but Gwen leaned in, ever so closely, and softly stroked his cheek. “There,” she whispered, her breath tickling his neck.

Miles started to say something, but suddenly seemed to have forgotten how to talk. “I...uh…”

She pulled back. “Wiles 1, Miles 0.”

“Gosh,  _ fine _ ,” Miles said.

“Besides,” she said, smiling as she sat back, “I’ve got my own test to study for.”

He nodded. “Then I’m guessing I can’t persuade you to go webbing with me, could I?”

She shook her head. “Not tonight. But maybe tomorrow?”

“Okay,” Miles said before he remembered something. “I think there’s another Spider-Man,” he told her.

“What?”

Miles told Gwen about his encounter last night. When he’d finished telling her, he asked “It wasn’t you, was it?”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I’d have come and seen you. It wasn’t Peter?”

“He said it wasn’t him,” Miles answered. 

“Maybe it was Miguel?”

Miles scoffed. “Yeah, right. He’s never come to see me, why would he be zipping around, taking care of thieves here all of a sudden?”

Gwen shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he got bored on his Earth.”

“Hm. What does his costume look like?”

“Blue and red.”

“Like Peter’s?”

“No, not like Peter’s.” She looked at the time. “I’ll draw it or something for you next time. I’ve got to go.” She closed the pizza box and cleaned up her napkins.

Miles sighed. “Five more minutes?”

She shook her head. “Sorry. I  _ really _ need to study for this history test.”

“I can help...”

“Thanks, but...maybe next time, alright?” She leaned close and gave him a quick peck. “Bye, Spider-Man.”

He smiled as she stood. “Bye, Gwanda.” He watched as she pressed the button on her goober, and walked back to Earth-65.

 

Miles debated what to do next. He knew he should probably be hitting the books, in order to make sure he passed both his physics and math tests. But physics wasn’t until Friday, and he knew he’d be fine with math. Miles figured he’d go out webbing for a little bit, then study before bed.

After a quick change into his black and red spider suit, he was out the window, ready to take on whatever he came across.

What he came across, though, was nothing. After nearly an hour on patrol, nothing came up; which, he thought, must be a record in the history of Spider-Manning.  _ It’s almost like all the criminals are telling me to go study _ , he thought to himself. He perched himself on the edge of a building and took his phone out, smiling when he saw he’d received a text from Gwen.

_ Studying? _ She’d asked twenty minutes ago.

_ About to _ , he responded.

There was an eyeroll emoji, then  _ what’ve you been doing? _

Grinning, he texted back  _ thinking about you _ .

She sent back a heart emoji, then a text that read  _ that’s sweet but go study! _

_ If you say so, Gwanda _ he replied, before pocketing his phone. Miles stood, prepared to web home when he heard a commotion a few feet away. There was the sound of a woman screaming and a muffled man’s voice.

Miles leapt off the roof, sending out a webline as he did. He continued webbing in the direction of the disturbance, eventually finding what he was looking for in a dark alley.

However, it seemed like someone had beat him to it.

The alley was dark, but he could see the attacker had been webbed up; and whoever had done it, appeared to be comforting the woman who’d screamed.

Miles noticed the blue and red suit and, for a moment, thought it might be someone he knew.

“Peter?” he asked.

The Spider-Man in front of him turned around, sending what seemed like a nonstop fluid of webs out as he did so. The webbing immediately wrapped up Miles, pinning him against the wall behind him.

Miles looked into the face of his attacker; the blue and red mask squinted in anger at him as he bellowed “Who the shock are you?”

_ Nope _ , Miles thought.  _ Definitely not Peter. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guess on who the mystery Spider-Man is?


End file.
